We Survive Together
by msspicyjalapeno
Summary: After the world turns apocalyptic with walkers at every turn, three siblings run into Rick and his group. After deciding to join the group, they are met with unforeseen challenges. Can they handle this new world? *PSA: This is the Walking Dead, so there will be language and gore (Duh...)* A CarlxOC. It will be a slow burn for Carl, because they start out so young.
1. Chapter 1

"Rachel, keep quiet. We just need to search for food and then we are getting the hell out of Atlanta." My older brother snapped at my older sister.

"Marcus, their is nothing here. Somebody already cleaned this place out. There's no food, or water. We haven't had any in days. We only have two bullets left, and there are way to many undead for us to make it out of here alive." Rachel argued with my brother.

"Don't say that in front of her." Marcus snapped as both of my siblings turned to look at me.

"I may be only 10 years old, but I'm not stupid. I know we're in deep shit." I glared at my two barely older than me siblings.

"Don't use that kind of language. If you do it again, I'm going to find soap and wash your mouth out." Marcus pointed up at me from where I stood on the stairs above them. I rolled my eyes and continued walking up the stairs, stomping along the way. I was a little ways above my siblings when I heard the door open.

"Merle? That you?" A voice called down from above me. I glanced up and caught sight of two men. One I couldn't see as clearly, but the other held a cross box and had it pointed at my head. Before I could stop myself I let out a large gasp. "Who are you?" The man yelled at me. I turned and ran back down the stairs.

"Wait!" A new voice yelled after me. I didn't stop and continued my sprint down the stairs for my brother. I turned to look back at the men as they chased me, causing me to run into a hard body. I let out a squeak of terror before Marcus shushed me and grabbed my hand, hauling me down the stairs the rest of the way. "Hold on! We just want to talk." As we reached the bottom of the stairs Marcus shoved me into Rachel's waiting arms and we went to hide underneath the bottom of the stairs. My brother stayed where he was, gun pointed at the stairs. I heard the footsteps stop above me. "Let's take it easy here. We don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Just leave me be, and I won't shoot." Marcus answered in a hard voice. I gulped, hoping these men wouldn't be like the last ones we ran into.

"How about you tell me where my brother is and I wont shoot you." The first voice I had heard barked out.

"I ain't seen nobody else. It's just been me here." My brother lied, never looking at my sister and I.

"We saw you running with someone else. Who was it?" The first voice yelled. Marcus raised his gun a little hire.

"Daryl, lower your bow, he's just a kid." The second voice tried to reason. An arrow shot past my brother and bounced against the wall to the floor.

"I'll lower it once he stops lying to us." The voice snapped. Fear struck my heart at the thought of losing my brother. I broke free from my sister and ran from our hiding place to my brother. Rachel gasped in surprise and chased after me. I fan full force into my brother, wrapping my arms around him. My brother barely moved an inch, but looked down at me in fear as I stared at his face.

"Rachel." Marcus hissed as my sister grabbed me around the middle and twisted me so that Marcus' body stood as a shield between the men and I. I continued to hold onto my brother in fear as Rachel held me close from behind. I stared up at the men on the stairs. There were two more. There was a black man, an Asian, a cop, and a redneck. It sounded like the punch line to a bad joke. "Just leave us be." Marcus' hard voice wavered as he stared up at the men. The cop took a step toward us.

"We aren't going to hurt you." The cop glanced at me as I clung to my brother. "How old are y'all?"

"Old enough. We don't want trouble, but if you come any closer to us, I will shoot you." Marcus' hard voice came back. The cop glanced at the redneck, silently communicating with him. The redneck lowered his crossbow. Skeptically Marcus lowered his gun so that it was just barely off the cop.

"I'm a deputy. My name is Rick, Rick Grimes. We're not going to hurt you guys. We just want to help. Do y'all need water?" Rick held out a canteen to us. Marcus looked over his shoulder to Rachel, silently asking what she thought. Rachel shrugged in response. Marcus took a hesitant step forward and snatched the water canteen from Rick. He opened it and gave it a hesitant sniff, before taking a tiny sip. Satisfied it was water, Marcus handed the canteen to me. I gulped the sweet water as flowed over my chapped lips and dry mouth. Remembering my siblings were thirsty, I passed the canteen to Rachel, who drank it just as greedily, before passing it to my brother. Marcus gave it a tentative shake, seeing that there was only enough left for one person; he closed it and threw it back to Rick. "It's alright. You can finish it. I get the feeling you need it more than me." Rick threw the canteen back to my brother who quickly gulped down the last of the water and threw it back empty.

"Are you guys alone?" The black man asked. A contemplating look came over Marcus' face as he decided what to say.

"I don't see how that's any of y'alls business." Rachel snapped as she held me closer. Rick glanced at his companions before looking at the others.

"Would y'all like to come with us? We have others outside the city. We can give you food, protection." Rick glanced at me. "My sons about her age. There's another little girl there too about the same age."

"We seriously taking them with us?" The redneck asked, still sounding pissed off.

"If they want to come with us, yes." Rick answered in a sure voice, leaving no room for argument.

"Shane won't be happy about it." The Asian guy commented. Marcus glanced back at Rachel and I for an answer. I nodded quickly, while Rachel just shrugged in a 'why not?' kind of way.

"Screw Shane. We aren't leaving three kids alone out here." The black guys defended.

"What do you say?" Rick asked. My sister and I looked to Marcus. Marcus gave a curt nod to Rick and lowered his gun all the way, but he didn't fully relax his stance.

"This is Daryl Dixon, Glenn, and T-dog." Rick gestured to each person as he named them. "How old are y'all?"

"I'm Marcus, I'm 19. This is my sister Rachel, she's 15. And this is Princess." I glared at Marcus, letting go of him as he used the nickname I hated. "She's 10."

"Enough introductions. I'm going to find my brother." Daryl declared as he stormed off, following the blood trail that we had noticed and ignored. Rick and his two companions followed down the steps. I reached down behind me and grabbed the arrow that Daryl had shot at my brother earlier. T-dog waited for my siblings and I to pass through the door before he followed.

"So, what kind of name is Princess?" T-dog whispered as we followed the blood trail. I sent him a glare.

"What kind of name is T-dog?" I sassed back. I heard him chuckle behind me. We quieted down as we heard the all too familiar sound of an undead growling. Our group split up, Daryl going one way, while Rick, Glenn and T-dog wen another. I quickly followed Daryl, ignoring my sibling's protests. I glanced behind me when I heard footsteps, seeing that Marcus had followed, but not Rachel. Daryl turned around to glare at us.

"Don't get in my way." Daryl threatened us before shooting the undead in the head. We followed silently behind him as Daryl exited the room and we joined back with the other group. Our walk continued until we came across two dead undeads. "Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches….one handed." I shared a look with my brother. Why was he one handed? "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother." Daryl pulled back the bowstring of his cross bow and locked it in place. "Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Rick commented. We continued on silently as we watched for the dead.

"How long have you guys been out here alone?" Glenn asked us. Rachel glanced at him before turning back to the front.

"We've always been alone." Everyone glanced at us, a pregnant pause following her statement.

"Merle!" Daryl yelled for his brother as we rounded a corner, causing my brother to glance around in alarm.

"We're not alone here. Remember? We have kids with us now." Rick whispered to him.

"Screw that. He could be bleeding out. You said so yourself." Daryl quietly walked forward. As we walked into the kitchen, the gas stove was lit. Rick picked up a cast iron cooking utensil.

"What's that burned stuff?" I looked at the charred and bloody items on the thing that gave off a strange smell.

"Skin." Rick quickly glanced at me. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that in front of her."

"Don't worry about it. She's tougher than she looks. She needs to hear stuff like this. It's how the world is now." Marcus replied as he looked around the room. Rick looked like he disagreed, but didn't respond to what my brother said.

"He cauterized the stump." Rick told us as he set it back down. My stomach churned at the thought.

"Told you he was tough." Daryl spoke to nobody really in particular. "Ain't nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood." Rick cautioned. Daryl didn't seem to care as he continued into the other room.

"Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." Daryl walked to the hole in the window.

"He left the building? What is he insane?" Rachel asked in concern and surprise as we followed Daryl to the opening.

"Why the hell would he do that?" Glenn asked, also thinking along the same lines of my sister.

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl countered. I wasn't even hurt and I wanted to get out too. "He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do. Surviving."

"You call that surviving? Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?" Daryl began an angry, pissed off pace at T-dog's words.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks." Daryl snapped. My siblings and I shared a raised eyebrow look. Who did we just agree to go with? Glenn and T-dog looked away in shame, but Rick held his gaze. "You couldn't kill him." Daryl accused as he stared him down. "Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."

"What bout 1,000 dumb dead bastards?" Rick countered, remaining calm. "Different story?"

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him." Daryl took a step forward toward the window, but Rick held out a hand to stop him.

"Daryl, wait." Rick still managed to remain calm as he attempted to stop Daryl from following his brother.

"Get your hands off me. You can't stop me." Daryl shoved Rick off of him. Marcus quickly grabbed my arm and dragged me behind him.

"I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine." Rick continued to reason while he never braking eye contact with a pissed off pacing Daryl. "I know exactly how you feel." Daryl paused in his pacing as he continued to stare at Rick. "He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head."

"I could do that." Daryl agreed, no longer pissed off. Rick looked to T-dog, who stood next to me.

"Only if we get those guns first. I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" T-dog threw out there. Rachel snorted next to me.

"So really nothings changed for Atlanta?" Rachel sassed. Daryl snorted in amusement.

"Lets go find some thing to write with so we can plan this out." Rick said as he walked back into the office room we had just passed through. Glenn crouched down on the ground as he grabbed a marker and began drawing out a plan. T-dog sat next to him, while my sister and I sat across from them both. T-dog glanced at us before grabbing their book bag and opening it. He pulled out three granola bars and smiled at my siblings and I. T-dog tossed it to us and we wasted no time devouring the small snacks. Rick glanced over Glenn's work as we ate. "No, there's no way you're going alone." Rick protested to Glenn.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you much." Daryl countered from where he rested against the desk.

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out." Glenn defended his plan. " If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look." Glenn sat down a paper clip. "That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now." He put down a wadded up sticky note next to the paper clip. "That's the bag of guns. Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met, Rick. That's where Daryl, Marcus, and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl and Marcus asked at the same time. Both shared a glare with each other, before looking back to Glenn for an explanation.

"Your crossbow is quieter than Rick's gun. Marcus will be there with his gun as back up." Glenn looked to the both of them, seeing if they had more questions. When neither said anything, he put down some tiny post it notes on the alley. "While Daryl and Marcus wait here, I run up the street, grab the bag."

"You got the rest of us elsewhere?" Rick asked as he looked at the rough sketch drawn on the floor.

"You, T-dog, and the girls, right." Glenn nodded in conformation. He picked up the eraser and moved it to a different alley on the other side of the paper clip. "You'll be in this alley here."

"Two blocks away? Why?" Rick asked as he tried to follow Glenn's train of thought.

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards we'll all meet back here." Everyone nodded slowly in agreement.

"Hey, kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl asked. We looked to Glenn for an answer.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?" He asked confused. Marcus gave a chuckle, while Rick and Daryl looked at him a little surprised. Everyone gathered their things as we got ready to go. Rachel put the guys backpack over her own so that Glenn would be free to move quickly. I quietly walked over to Daryl, and watched as he loaded his crossbow. Daryl looked at me a little uncomfortably, like he didn't quite know what to do or say with me.

"You got something to say, spit it out kid." Daryl said quietly, even though Rick was the only one paying attention to us. I silently held out the arrow I had picked up. Daryl looked at it in confusion before taking it.

"Don't let him die." I said simply before going back to my sisters' side and taking her hand. We wordlessly followed Rick to the alley and stood in our spot. Rachel stood behind me, constantly checking over her shoulder to see if any of the undead were coming up behind her. T-dog stood in front of me, holding the bag of tools, and Rick stood at the front of the alley, watching for Glenn. I tapped T-dogs hand, causing him to turn and look down at me. "I can take those, that way you can fight better." I whispered. T-dog looked at the bag and then to me uncertainly.

"It's kind of heavy." I scoffed at him and took the bag from his hand. I zipped the top of it and threw it over my shoulder, like it was a purse. It was heavy, but I wasn't going to let him see that.

"Ayúdame!" A strange voice yelled out loudly. We all looked at each other in confusion. "Ayúdame!" It continued to yell. Rick ran back the way that we came, us quick on his heals. None of us spoke as we ran at full speed down the alley. Rachel practically dragging me to keep as the tool bag weighed me down. We stopped once we came upon Marcus as he groaned and stood up, blood trickling from his nose. Daryl yelled as he threw a strange young guy against the wall.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop it." Rick said as he grabbed Daryl to push him back, but Daryl continued to try and go at him.

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" Daryl threatened. Marcus took a few steps toward the kid as well, but Rachel let go of my hand as she pushed against his chest.

"Marcus stop!" Rachel held her hands there, but Marcus stopped pushing as he continued to glare at the kid.

"Let me go!" The kid yelled as T-dog held him against the wall.

"Chill out." He yelled back at the kid, looking between Marcus and Daryl as he tried to piece together what had happened.

"They took Glenn. That little bastard and his little bastard homie friends." Daryl yelled as Rick held his shirt and walked with him during his pissed off pacing. "I'm gonna stomp your ass!"

"Guys! Guys! We're cut off!" T-dog pointed out as he pointed to the fence surrounded by the undead.

"Get to the office. Go." Rick ordered. T-dog grabbed onto the unknown kid and dragged him along as Rachel took Marcus' hand and ran. I looked down and quickly grabbed one of Daryl's arrows that he dropped.

"Come on. Damn, let's go." Daryl said as he waited on Rick to pick up the gun bag and a hat.

"Princess!" Marcus yelled from the other end of the alleyway. I felt someone grab my upper arm and begin dragging me along. I glanced up to see Daryl pulling me along as we followed the others back to the office room.

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went." Rick said as he sat on the desk in front of the unknown kid.

"I ain't telling you nothing." The kid murmured. Marcus took the tool bag from me as he picked me up to sit me in his lap.

"Jesus, man. What the hell happened back there?" T-dog asked Daryl and Marcus. Marcus' arms tensed around me.

"I told you, this little turd and his douche bag friends came out of nowhere and jumped us." Daryl paced the floor in a pissed off manor behind the desk that my siblings, Rick, and I sat on.

"Man, you're the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault." The kid defended.

"If you had just answered the damn question instead of calling for your friends, we wouldn't be in this mess." Marcus snapped.

"They took Glenn. Could have taken Merle too." Daryl added in. The kid looked like he could care less.

"Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle." The kid antagonized. Daryl charged forward, about to kick his ass, but Rick stood up to hold him back.

"Damn it, Daryl. Back off." Rick said as he shoved Daryl backward. Daryl got a thoughtful look on his face and walked over to their group's backpack that Rachel had sat down.

"What kind of shithead puts a tattoo of a pot leaf on the side of his neck?" Rachel taunted back at the kid. The kid glared in response.

"Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" Daryl threw something in the kids lap, causing him to scream, knock it on the floor and squirm away. I leaned forward to see what it was. It was a hand. I quickly shrunk back into my brother, shivering slightly in fear, while he held me tightly. Daryl walked over to the kid. "I'll start with the feet this time." Rick walked over and pulled Daryl off of the kid. My siblings and I looked at T-dog for an explanation. T-dog simply shook his head.

"It's Merle's." He simply explained. It suddenly clicked. That would explain it. Rick tried a softer approach with the kid.

"The men you were with took our friend. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out." Rick answered honestly. We could see the kids resolve crumbling.

"Alright, I'll show you where it is." The kid caved.

"Everybody grab a gun." Rick ordered as he stood up. "Can you two shoot?" Rick asked Marcus and Rachel.

"All three of us can shoot." Marcus replied as he grabbed some of the ammo and refilled his own gun.

"She can shoot?" T-dog looked at me, sizing me up. I sent him a glare that he just smirked in response to.

"Of course she can. She's been able to shoot a gun since she was 4 and has been taking down bucks and other game on her own since she was 6." Rachel murmured as she was loading the rifle she had picked up.

"If it's all the same to you, I'ld rather not give her the gun." Rick asked Marcus. Marcus merely shrugged.


	2. Chapter 2

**So here is the next chapter! Let me know what y'all think!**

**Also, Princess looks like a young Hayden Panettiere, Rachel looks like Katrina Bowden but with glasses, and Marcus looks like Austin Butler when he had curly hair.**

* * *

The run to where Glenn was being held was short, but silent. I carried the group's backpack on my back over my own satchel. As we looked around the wall, I held onto the knife attached to my belt for comfort.

"You sure you're up for this?" Rick asked T-dog as he handed him the sniper rifle.

"Yeah." T-dog nodded before picking up the bag of guns and slinging it over his shoulders. "Come with me Princess." T-dog held out his hand for me. I glanced back at my siblings. Rachel looked unsure as she watched for Marcus' response. Marcus gave T-dog a quick glance before nodding for me to continue. I hesitantly took his hand and let him lead me up to the top of a near by building. "Stay out of sight." I watched through a hole in the bricks as a man stepped out into the courtyard with our people. We couldn't hear too well what they were saying, but we both tensed up as the Hispanics raised their weapons on our people. Rick gestured to us, showing us to their leader. "Come on, man. Make the trade. Please." T-dog begged the man as his gun was trained on his head. As the men holding Glenn walked back inside, T-dog grabbed the bags and my hand and we headed to the building across the street. We walked in at the same time as the others. Rick took the bag of guns and opened them, looking over our inventory.

"Them guns are worth more than gold. Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. You willing to give that up for that kid?" Daryl asked Rick as he checked how much ammo was in each gun.

"If I knew we'd get Glenn back, I might agree. But you think that vato across the way is just gonna hand him over?" T-dog pointed out.

"You calling G a liar?" The kid asked in a pissed off voice from where he sat next to T-dog.

"Are you a part of this? You want to hold onto your teeth?" Daryl snapped at him as he got up in his face. I snickered quietly from my spot next to the kid.

"Question is, do you trust that man's word?" T-dog asked solemnly.

"No, question is what are you willing to bet on it? Could be more than them guns. Could be your life. Could be their lives." Daryl gestured to Marcus and Rachel. "Leaving that runt to fend for herself." Daryl pointed at me. "Glenn worth that to you?"

"What life I have I owe to him. I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could have walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I." Rick's words echoed in my head. These people didn't have to help us out. If we hadn't found them, we probably would have starved to death by this time tomorrow.

"So you're gonna hand the guns over?" Daryl accused. I yanked on Marcus' pants leg next to me. As Marcus looked at me, I nodded my head, not needing to put in words what I thought. Marcus' face grew solemn and he nodded in agreement.

"I didn't say that. There's nothing keeping you guys here. Y'all should get out, head back to camp." Rick warned us.

"And tell your family what?" T-dog asked. Rick looked between all of us. Rick stopped as he looked at Marcus.

"I'm their brother, not their father. We need you guys." Marcus paused as he glanced at Daryl and T-dog. "No time like the present to start pulling our weight in the group." Daryl gave a curt nod in agreement before walking forward for a gun.

"What about me?" I asked as Rachel went forward to pick up her own gun. Marcus looked at me as he handed me a small gun.

"You are going to wait outside the building, away from the gun fire. That is for self defense against an undead or if someone comes and tries to take you. Understand?" Marcus pointed a finger in my face, waiting for my response.

"I can help though." I opened the clip to check inside. Marcus chuckled at me, but kept a serious face.

"I know you can. But right now your greatest asset is that you look about as innocent and weak as snail. You use that for as long as you can. Now, you wait outside the building. Understand?" I nodded quietly as the group continued to pick out their guns.

"Come on, this is nuts." The kid complained as he started to stand up and protest, but Marcus gave him a quick shove back to the floor. "Just do like G says." We all ignored him as we gagged him and walked to the house. Marcus stopped me as we got to the courtyard and made a gesture for me to stay there. I nodded and watched through a crack as they walked inside the building. It was eerily quiet outside, so I quietly crept all the way up to the door.

"You said come locked and loaded." Rick's voice said. I heard several guns get cocked. "Okay then, we're here." My heart pounded in my chest as I saw several guns pointed on my brother and sister.

"Felipe. Felipe." An old women said as she made her way through the crowded room. I noticed a hole in the bottom of the shack off to the side and shimmied my way through.

"Abuela, go back with the others, now." Felipe said. If these people had old people here, then they wouldn't shoot a kid.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl growled out to the men. I quietly worked my way behind some of the men so that I was closer to my group.

"Abuela, listen to your m'hijo, okay? This is not the place for you right now." G told the old women.

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He needs his asthma stuff. Carlito didn't find it. He needs his medicine." The old women insisted.

"Felipe, go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you." G ordered. Felipe said something to his grandmother in Spanish, but she ignored her grandson.

"Who are those men? And that girl?" The grandmother slowly moved forward more to Rick and Daryl. Our people slowly lowered their guns so that they wouldn't be aimed at her. I watched from behind the large toolbox that I hid behind. "Don't you take him."

"Ma'am?" Rick asked confused as she directed her comments to him. I covered my mouth to silence my breathing since Rick and G were just two feet away from me.

"Felipe's a good boy. He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here." She said softly.

"Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson." Rick replied, finally realizing what she was talking about.

"Then what do you want him for?" She asked kindly. How was it that any grandmother could diffuse arguments?

"He's…helping us find a missing person. Fella named Glenn." Rick lied to the grandmother.

"The Asian boy? He's with Mr. Gilbert. Come. Come, I show you." The grandmother took Rick's hand as she began pulling him to the back rooms. "He needs his medicine."

"Let 'em pass." G said in a defeated voice. The rest of the group looked at each other a little confused.

"Should we go get her from outside then?" Marcus whispered to Daryl. Daryl shrugged in response. "Um, I guess I'll go get her then…"

"I'm already here." I replied as I stepped out from my hiding place to behind G, causing said man to jump and swear.

"I told you to wait outside." Marcus angrily marched forward and yanked me by the ear as we followed behind Rick.

"I got bored. Ow! I only came in once the grandma came out." I attempted to yank my ear out of his hold, but that only made it hurt worse. Once we made it through the crowded room of men, Marcus finally let go of my ear and gave me a little shove to in front of him. I rubbed my aching ear and grumbled as I shot dirty looks over my shoulder at him. We walked through a hallway filled with old people till we came to what looked like a small gym with a stage. Standing in a group was a bunch of old people, and Glenn.

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked Glenn, who stood there calm and unharmed.

"An asthma attack. Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden." Glenn answered as if he were there just for a visit and not a captive.

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man." T-dog complained to Glenn. Glenn just looked over his shoulders at the three Chihuahua's that sat in the corner. I gasped as I ran over to them and picked up the white one to pet. It licked my face happily as I scratched it behind the ears.

"Princess, come on." Marcus called as the others began to leave the room. I jumped up and carried the dog with me, following behind them as we walked into a side room.

"What about the rest of your crew?" Rick asked G. G glanced at me as I held one of his dogs.

"The vatos trickle in, to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind; plunderers, the kind that take by force."

"Your not the only ones to run into them." Marcus muttered under his breath. Daryl glanced at us over his shoulder.

"That's not who we are." Rick responded.

"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage; appearances." G responded as he gaze fell back on me. The dog gave me a few licks as I continued to pet it.

"Guess the world changed." T-dog said rather depressingly.

"No. It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here. The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why." G softly answered.

"Because they can." Rick silently handed over a gun and began to take out a few more for them. G looked over at me.

"I've never seen that over grown rat be quiet for so long." G smirked at me as I continued to pet it. "You can keep him if you like." I gasped in surprise and immediately turned to look at Marcus, a large smile covering my face.

"No." Marcus answered before I could even ask. My smile fell and I put on a pouty face. Marcus looked down at me and groaned as he rubbed his face. "Ask Rachel." I quickly spun around to look at her with the same sad puppy dogface.

"Why do I always have to be the bad guy? No, this is all you." Rachel said as she threw up her hands. I quickly turned back to my brother and held the dog up by my face. Marcus looked up at the ceiling instead of down at me.

"Don't look down, don't look down." Marcus chanted as I kept my same facial expression. "No." I huffed, but persisted.

"I'll feed it my food rations and water. I'll take it out for the bathroom. You wont even know he's there!" I pleaded. Marcus continued to stare at the ceiling and chant about not looking at me. I went for my one last-ditch effort.

"Pwease big brother." I said softly in a baby voice as I tugged gently on his shirt. Marcus peeked down at me and I began to smile as I saw him cave.

"Fine." He said in a defeated voice. I gave a whoop and hugged the dog tightly to myself.

"I hate you." Rachel deadpanned behind me. I stuck my tongue out at her as we finally began leaving the old peoples home.

"I hate me, too." Marcus said in a flat voice. "I blame you though. You know I've never been able to say no to her."

"That things gonna get eaten quicker than a snake strikes." Daryl said as he walked beside me.

"No faster than your face will. I will protect him and he will protect me." I bragged as we walked out of the city. Daryl snorted at me.

"It's a rat dog, not a German Shepard." I rolled my eyes and ignored him as I continued to walk. "At least tell me his name isn't fluffy."

"His name is Blade." I nodded in approval as I held Blade over my head. Daryl shook his head at me.

"Better than Fluffy." We walked quietly for a few beats before I opened my satchel and took out Daryl's arrow that I had put inside earlier.

"Here. You should keep better track of these. Kind of hard to replace now." Daryl looked at me in surprise and took the arrow as I stuffed Blade into my side satchel, freeing my arms.

"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat." Glenn teased Rick as we trudged on.

"Don't tell anybody." Rick responded with a smile as I giggled from my place between him and Daryl.

"You've given away half our guns and ammo." Daryl complained as we continued to walk.

"Not nearly half." Rick defended himself.

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?" Daryl complained.

"How long do any of us?" The group stopped at the edge of the depot that we were walking under. We stood staring at empty space.

"Oh my God." Glenn said in a worried tone of voice. I quickly looked over at my siblings for answers, but they looked equally as confused.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl asked in confusion.

"We left it right there. Who would take it?" Glenn asked rhetorically but Rick still answered anyways.

"Merle." Realization hit the group at different times. I could feel the worry and panic slowly stirring in the others.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp." Daryl admitted. "Ain't no cars round neither. Gotta run it on foot." The group wordlessly broke into a run. Blade began barking in complaint as he bounced up and down in my bag, so I quickly took him out and carried him in my arms. Rachel and Marcus seemed to be having a harder time than the rest of them, but I was quickly tiring out. I stopped running to catch my breath, not even having enough breath to tell them to stop. I felt arms scoop me up as my brother wordlessly began to carry me. His panting breaths washed over my face and I could see him tiring quicker than before. As the sun began to darken, my brother's steps began to falter. "Giver her here. I'll take a turn." Daryl huffed as he scooped me from my brother's arms. Marcus didn't even have enough breath or strength to protest. We ran a little longer till it was pitch black. Guns fired close by as people screamed. Daryl quickly set me down as he reached for his gun.

"Oh my God." Rick breathed. Marcus grabbed my hand as we all began to run to the camp.

"Go! Go!" T-dog ordered. Everyone got out their guns, including me. We came up on a tiny group that was being attacked by the undead.

"Princess, stay behind me!" Marcus shouted at me as everyone began to fire. I grabbed onto the back of his shirt in fear as gunshots rang out around me. Blade barked furiously in all the noise and I held him close so he wouldn't run away. One by one the undead all fell till there was none left. Rick hugged close to him a boy about my age and a woman. Rachel instantly came to us and picked me up while she hovered closely to Marcus' side. A sudden fear clutched my heart at the thought of having to meet the new members. Marcus held us both close as a women wailed over her dead sister. Everyone stayed huddled into a group as we continued to watch for the undead. A buff looking man with dark brown hair and a face that looked mean and scary turned to look at my siblings and I in confusion.

"Who are y'all?"


	3. Chapter 3

**So here's the next chapter! Let me know what y'all think! Sorry that this one is less exciting, but there are theose episodes where not a lot of really exciting things happen. Thanks for the reviews and follows!**

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I munched quietly on the fish left overs from the night before. It was cold, but nothing had ever tasted so good in my life. I sat beside my siblings, watching as they ate just as ravenously as me. Rachel had her long dirty blonde pen-straight hair pulled up in a ponytail, showing off her prominent cheekbones and the few freckles across her cheeks. Behind her wired frame glasses her blue/green eyes darted around the camp as she watched all of the people carefully. Marcus's curly head of dirty blonde hair bounced as he ate, his hard jaw line becoming even more prominent. He really needed a haircut. His green eyes stayed focused on the surrounding forest as he watched for the undead. I mused in my head how I looked like my siblings. I had the same color dirty blonde hair that was curly like by brothers and about the same length as my sisters. I had my sister's high cheekbones and my brother's prominent jaw line. I dropped a few crumbs of fish for Blade, who sat at my feet.

"I can't believe we're taking in dogs now." Shane complained as he watched my dog eat.

"You're not. You're feeding me, and I'm feeding my dog." I snapped at him. Rachel nudged me with her knee, telling me to shut up. I continued to glare at Shane despite his words. Shane had been pretty upset when Rick told him that we were now with them, but he seemed to swallow most of his complaints.

"Bad enough that we have more dead weight than we can feed." Shane grumbled under his breath.

"Shane." Lori said in a warning tone. Marcus stood up and threw the fish bones in the dying embers of the fire.

"Not dead weight. So stop complaining." Marcus answered as he stared him down before picking up a weapon and helping Daryl, Glenn, and T-dog burn the undead. Rachel quickly followed suit.

"She still won't move?" Rick asked as we sat around the campfire. I glanced back at the grieving older sister; I think her name was Andrea.

"Won't even talk to us. She's been there all night. What do we do?" Lori asked her husband.

"Can't just leave Amy like that. We need to deal with it, same as the others." Shane commented quietly.

"I'll tell her how it is." Rick walked over to the two girls as we all stopped what we were doing to watch. "Andrea." Before Rick could say another word, Andrea pulled out a gun and pointed it at his face. I drew in a quick breath and clutched Blade to my chest.

"I know how the safety works." Andrea said ominously. Rick slowly backed away as everyone stood at attention.

"All right. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Andrea finally lowered her gun and went back to staring at her sister.

"Princess, was it?" The older man asked me, taking my attention away from the scene. I nodded in response. "I don't think we've met. I'm Dale." I nodded again in response.

"Y'all can't be serious. Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb." Daryl complained as he walked over to the fire.

"Maybe we should not talk about this in front of her." Dale gestured to me, causing everyone to turn and look at me.

"She's fine. The runt's been out there with harsher scenarios since this started." Daryl dismissed. I nodded in agreement.

"All the same, Princess." I looked back to Dale. "Why don't you go play with the kids." I huffed but slowly got up and walked to where the other children were playing by the edge of the camp. I watched Rachel and Marcus as they dragged the bodies to the fire, wishing I were over there instead.

"Hi." A little Hispanic girl said meekly. I looked around at them, not sure what to say. It had been a while since I spoke to anyone my own age.

"Are you going to sit?" Rick's kid asked me. I slowly sat on the ground so that there was enough space between us that we didn't touch.

"I like your dog." The blonde girl said shyly. "Can I pet him?" I nodded. "What's his name?"

"Blade." My voice wavered as I spoke, causing me to blush.

"Cool name." The Hispanic boy told me. I smiled shyly at him in response. "My names Louis."

"I'm his older sister. I'm Eliza." The Hispanic girl smiled at me. I tentatively smiled back.

"My name's Sophia. Can I hold Blade?" I merely handed him over in response. "What's your name?" I swallowed bile as I thought of the nickname, but still gave it.

"Princess." Rick's son gave a snort of laughter as he stared at me across from the circle.

"What kind of name is Princess?" I scowled at him while he still looked at me with a smile.

"Shut up, Carl. Don't be mean." Eliza turned to smile at me as she moved to pet Blade.

"What kind of old man name is Carl?" Carl gave me a nasty look that I returned quickly.

"A walker got him. A walker bit Jim." A voice from the camp drew our attention. We turned to the camp as a fragile looking lady came over to us.

"Let's stay over here for a bit." She said meekly as she went to stand behind Sophia. I looked to watch my siblings as they went into a small circle to talk like the rest of the group. "My name's Carol by the way." I looked back to the women as she gave me a kind smile. I smiled back.

"I'm Princess." Carol smiled at me before getting up and walking back to the group. I whistled for Blade. He jumped out of Sophia's arms and came running to me. I scooped him up and then began making my way over to the edge of the groups camp, wanting to look around the area.

"What are you doing? Mrs. Carol said to wait here." Eliza said, causing me to pause and look at them.

"She can't tell me what to do. I only follow my brother's orders." I didn't wait for a reply as I continued walking. I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Carl, Sophia, and Louis following me.

"What happened to you parents?" Sophia asked shyly as we walked into the clearing.

"My mom died before all this. Dad got taken down by a walker." I set Blade down so that he could follow on foot. "I'm sorry about your dad." Sophia merely shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Was it cool?" I looked at Carl, trying to figure out what he was talking about. "Was it cool being out there? Going on runs with your siblings?"

"I mean, kind of…it was mostly scary. But it had its fun moments." I watched as Louis hopped up on a fallen tree and began to walk across it. I stopped to look at a small patch of flowers, remembering how much my sister liked them. Blade gave a loud bark, before Louis gave a shout. I turned around to see an undead on top of Louis, who was barely able to hold its mouth away. Sophia gave a scream as she turned and ran back to camp.

"I'll get help." Carl yelled at me as he ran after Sophia. As the undead got closer to Louis' face, I knew I couldn't wait. I tackled the undead off of Louis, making me land on top of its decaying chest. I grabbed the knife from my belt and stabbed it in the head, just like Marcus showed me. The undead stopped moving; the only noise was of Louis' and my panting.

"Princess!" I swiveled my head around to see Marcus burst into the clearing, a long with Rick, Shane, Morales, and Rachel. Marcus didn't pause in his running like the others as he came straight to me and yanked me off the undead. He began quickly checking all over my body for what I assumed were scratch marks and bites. "Are you ok?" Marcus grabbed my face, as he looked me in the eye. I nodded, not yet able to find my words.

"What were you doing out here? I thought we told you to stay close." Rachel came forward as she gave me a hug.

"I just wanted to get you flowers…" I trailed off as I looked at her. Marcus sighed as he yanked out my blade from the undead.

"She saved me. She pulled the walker off of me and killed it." Louis' voice made all of us turn to look at him. Morales turned to look at me from where he sat by his son.

"Thank you." I nodded shyly at him as my brother pulled me up and we began walking back to camp.

"She wouldn't of had to do anything if she hadn't of led him out here away from the camp." Shane spoke up. "She needs to learn to follow orders when they are given to her."

"How about, I parent _my_ sister, and you stay the hell out of it." Marcus glared at Shane.

"You're still a kid yourself, you can't parent her." Shane accused. Marcus scoffed at him.

"I've been parenting her since she was 5 years old. We are her only family; we make the decision on how she is raised. I don't recall you being her sperm donor, so back the hell off." Marcus stood in front of Rachel and I as he confronted Shane.

"Let's take a breather. It's his sister, so they make the decisions." Shane turned and stormed away at Rick's words. "Just, try to make sure she stays closer to camp, for her safety." Rick told Marcus as we walked. Marcus just nodded in understanding. As we came back to camp, Marcus pulled me aside.

"No more wondering. You hear me?" I nodded solemnly as I stared at my shoes. "Oh, and good job." I looked up to see Marcus smirking at me, looking proud, as he handed me back my knife. I smiled brightly as I tucked it back into my belt. I followed Marcus as he went back to taking care of the dead people. He stood next to Daryl and Carol as they smashed people's heads in. We watched as Carol repeatedly pick axed a head. I began feeling nauseous and looked down, picking up Blade to focus on him instead. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Marcus get Daryl's attention and gesture behind me. I turned to see that the dead younger sister was waking up next to Andrea.

"I love you." I was forcefully turned around, right as the sound of a gunshot rang through our camp. I looked to see Rachel had turned me. She held me close as she looked onto what I assumed was a sad scene.

"Hey, kid." Rachel and I turned to Daryl, only to see that he was talking to Marcus. "Help me get all these bodies in my truck so that we can haul them to the graves." Marcus nodded as he helped wrap up and toss the bodies in the truck. Marcus and Daryl went to get into the truck while I quickly ran after Marcus. As Marcus turned around and looked at me, he smirked before nodding and letting me slide into the truck before him. "What you bringin' her for?"

"She likes to go where I go." Marcus shrugged as Daryl began backing the car to the gravesite.

"You kill that walker by yourself?" I looked up to see Daryl looking down at me. I nodded, still a little afraid of the entire group. "Good job, runt." I smiled at the praise as he put the car into park and got out. Marcus and I followed as we walked up to Shane and Rick digging the graves. "I still think it's a mistake not burning these bodies. It's what we said we'd do, right? Burn 'em all, wasn't that the idea?"

"A first." Shane panted out as he glanced at my brother and I. I shuffled backward into my brother's side.

"The Chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, we just follow him along? These people need to know who the hell's in charge here, what the rules are." Daryl slowly began to pace, a sure sign that he was getting worked up.

"There are no rules." Rick said in a solemn voice. I glanced up at Lori as she came to stand next to me.

"Well, that's a problem. We haven't had one minute to hold onto anything of our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do." Rachel walked over to us as we each gathered into our small groups to bury the dead. It was silent the entire time, only a few sniffles and sobs broke the silence. Once finished we began walking back to the camp. My siblings and I were the last to start walking back and we passed Rick and his family as they stood and talked.

"Marcus will walk back with ya." We turned to see Rick leveling a look to Marcus.

"Sure, kid. Come on." We waited until Carl caught up with us to begin walking again.

"What did y'all do out there? Anything cool?" Carl asked Marcus, looking at him expectantly.

"What, like do any cool fighting moves that you use to see in comic books?" Carl nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, a few."

"Could you teach me some?" Marcus had the look of no on his face, so Carl put on a sad face. "Pllleeeeeaaaaaasssssseeeeee." Marcus let out a groan.

"Fine, fine." Marcus waved him off as Carl whopped and ran off.

"You really don't know how to say no, do you?" Rachel teased Marcus. "Maybe it's just the fifteen extra letters in the word that you can't resist."

"Shut up." Rachel and I laughed, Marcus joining in after a few seconds. Even though the rest of the world had changed, I knew we never would.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the late update. School is hitting me hard these last two weeks. I know this one is short, but I will make up for it once my exams are over with multiple updates!**

**Debra: Don't worry, I am still doing the story. I am just in school right now so I can't update as often as I would like, but I'm really glad that you like it!**

**Thanks for the reviews, follows, and updates! Let me know what you think!**

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"Alright, everybody listen up." Shane's voice caused all the talking to die down between everyone in the group. "Those of you with CBs, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a CB, can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

"We're, uh…we're not going." Morales told us all. I glanced at Eliza and Louis as they stood next to their mom. No one responded.

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." Their mother told everyone.

"You go on your own, you wont have anyone to watch your back." Shane rather ominously stated.

"We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family." Morales told Rick. I saw Marcus shake his head silently in disagreement from where he stood beside me.

"You sure?" Rick double-checked.

"We talked about it. We're sure." Morales answered. I glanced up at Carl from where he sat on the hood of his family's car. He looked down at me at almost the same time. He simply shrugged your shoulders in a 'what can ya do about it?' kind of way. His face still shown with sadness.

"All right." Rick confirmed before crouching down. "Shane?"

"Yeah, all right." Shane agreed. We watched on as Rick and Shane discussed which guns to give them. "Box is half full." Shane passed over the box of ammo as Rick handed over a small handgun.

"Thank you all…for everything." Eliza's mom said as she gave Lori a hug goodbye. I watched as everyone proceeded to tell the family bye. I waved shyly to Eliza and Louis, who returned the small wave. Everyone slowly began to load up their cars.

"Alright, let's move out." Shane rallied us.

"Princess, do you wanna ride with us?" Sophia asked as she clutched Eliza's doll tightly. I turned to Marcus.

"Not right now. I want you and Rachel to ride with me." Marcus told us as he shook his head. He took my hand and we walked toward the van that T-dog was getting into drive.

"Mind if we hitch a ride with you?" Rachel asked. T-dog merely shrugged. Marcus hopped into the back with Rachel and me as Andrea climbed into the front seat. The ride was quiet and awkward. As rumble of the engine became constant, I slowly felt myself slipping off into slumber. I woke up as I felt the car stop. I got out to see Dale's RV smoking.

"Told you we'd never get far on that hose." Dale told us as we stood around the broken down vehicle. "I said I needed the one from the cube van."

"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape." I watched as T-dog, Daryl, and Marcus eyed the tree line around us for walkers.

"I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky." Shane told everyone.

"Y'all, Jim, it's bad. I don't think he can take anymore." Jacqui said as she rushed back onto the RV.

"Come on, Princess. Let's go see what Mrs. Lori is doing over their with Carl and Sophia." Still tired from my nap, I nodded groggily. I glanced back as I followed Rachel to make sure Blade was still following me. He trotted happily on my heals, making me smile. I watched as Carl and Sophia played a card game while they sat on the hood of the car.

"What game are you playing?" I asked as I watched on. Carl glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Slap Jack." He stated simply. "Wanna play next round?" I nodded enthusiastically in response.

"Princess, how old are you?" Sophia asked me as they continued to play, occasionally slapping the cards when they had to.

"I'm 10. My birthday's coming up though…I think. I'll be 11 soon. How old are you guys?" I plopped my head on my hands.

"We're both 11. Sophia's about to turn 12 and I'm about 11 and a half." Carl almost bragged. I rolled my eyes at him. Boys.

"What sort of things did y'all use to do for fun?" I really hopped that they had the same hobbies as me.

"I colored, played with my dolls, and helped my mom around the house." Sophia answered simply. Well, I guess doing chores is about the only thing we have in common.

"I played sports with my friends. My favorite was basketball. I also really like comic books. I win." Carl smiled victoriously up at Sophia after he slapped the jack rather loudly. Sophia just huffed in response. "What did you do?"

"I went hunting with Marcus and Rachel. I also read their comic books and regular books they would get. I would sometimes play some games outside with Marcus, occasionally Rachel. Oh, and I played music." I watched as Carl shuffled and dealt out the cards for the next game. I picked up my cards as I began to flip them over. "Marcus really likes Basketball, too."

"Did you do everything with your siblings?" Sophia asked as she laid down a card from her stack.

"Basically yes. We went to different schools and all. But other wise we were inseparable." I smiled at the thought.

"What happened to your parents?" Carl asked. I opened my mouth to reply but was cut off by Rachel.

"Come on you guys. Put your cards away. It's time to say goodbye to Mr. Jim." We quickly hopped off the car and ran up the hill. Rachel and I stopped by Marcus as we stood to the back of the group. Since we came in right at the end of his life, there wasn't really a point in saying goodbye to a guy we barely knew. We all casually walked back to our vehicles, not really talking. It stayed silent in the car as we drove off. I fell asleep again on the ride. It felt like I had barely dosed off when I awoke again to the car stopping.

"We're here. Stay beside Rachel and I, okay." Marcus whispered to me. I nodded as I gathered up Blade into my arms. We cautiously got out of the car. There were dead corpses everywhere, flies swarming the bodies. They reeked something awful, causing us all to cough at the smell. We walked quickly to the door, staying as close in a group as we could. Marcus held my hand as Rachel held onto my shoulder. We walked through a tiny bit of grass before hopping up on the sidewalk and going to the door. We watched as Shane and Rick tried to open the door. I gave a quiet hiss as something started biting at my foot. I looked down to see that there were some fire ants crawling on my shoe and leg. Shit! I quickly dropped Blade as I bent over to swipe them off my of my leg. It was too late though, they had already bit me.

"It's too late. There's nobody here." T-dog spoke allowed as it began to get dark out. Everyone began to panic. I picked back up Blade as I yanked on Marcus' shirt.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick countered. Marcus glanced at me, but quickly turned at Daryl's voice.

"Walkers." Daryl called out. Daryl quickly shot it in the head. "You lead us into a graveyard!"

"He made a call." Dale defended Rick. I yanked on Marcus' shirt again, but he ignored me as he surveyed around us for more walkers.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl began his angry walk as he went over to confront Rick.

"Marcus." I hoarsely whispered to him.

"Not now, Princess." Marcus snapped at me. I turned to Rachel and yanked on her shirt, but she ignored me as well as she surveyed the area.

"Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up!" Shane blocked Daryl's path before quickly turning to Rick. "Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we gonna go?" Carol asked in desperation.

"Do you hear me? No blame." Shane told Rick. I yanked on both of their shirts but neither one of my siblings turned to me. I was starting to feel my throat close off.

"She's right. We can't be here, this close to the city after dark." Lori told us. Everyone continued to silently panic.

"For Benning, Rick…still an option." Shane offered.

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles." Andrea countered.

"125. I checked the map." Glenn added in. I was starting to panic not just because my throat was closing off but because everyone else was as well.

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answer tonight, now." Lori held a panicking Carl close to her as she spoke.

"Well, think of something." Rick tried to calm everyone down.

"Come on, let's go." Glenn announced, causing everyone to make a run for the car. Marcus grabbed my hand and yanked me along behind him. The running only made my throat close off more.

"Marc-" I barely managed to get out, but neither of my siblings responded to me.

"The camera, it moved." Rick spoke, causing all of us to freeze in our spots.

"You imagined it." Dale immediately responded.

"It moved." All hell seemed to brake loose as the walkers began to come out at all the noise we were making. Lori passed over a panicked Carl to Rachel as she went to try and get Rick to leave. Carl looked at me with wide eyes.

"Are you-" We all stopped talking as the gate opened, causing a bright light to shine through. We stared at it in awe before we began to walk into the door. Lori came back and took Carl, but they stayed beside us. Carl kept his wide eyes on my face the entire time. We all walked into the building.

"Hello?" Rick called out, causing an echo to go throughout the entire building.

"Close those doors. Watch for walkers." Shane instructed us. Our group stopped talking as we looked around the big empty foyer. I could barely breath now.

"Princess…" Carl's voice echoed throughout the room, causing the entire group to look at me. Marcus and Rachel immediately looked down, looking afraid like they thought I wouldn't be there. Immediately their faces grew panicked.

"Shit." Marcus breathed out as he scooped me up in his arms and Rachel quickly searched through my satchel for my epipen. She quickly uncapped it and gave me the shot in my leg. I winced, but let out a sigh as I felt my throat begin to open back up. I nodded at her as she threw the now useless item to the ground and fished me out a Benadryl to take. I swallowed it dryly, grimacing at how it felt.

"She okay?" A new voice asked as a gun cocked. In one motion our group turned to face this new person.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the super late update. Finals got the best of me, but I will be updating regularly now!**

**Thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! Let me know what you guys think!**

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Our group stared at the new man for a minute without saying anything as we sized each other up.

"She-she's fine." Rachel finally spoke; her own gun was trained on the man like the others. The guy look tired and weary, but he held his own gun as he looked at us.

"Anybody infected?" He asked us.

"One of our group was. He didn't make it." Rick answered for us. Marcus continued to hold me, my leg hurting a little from the bites.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man asked us.

"A chance." Rick was quick to respond. The guy didn't look mean or dangerous, just a little exhausted and paranoid.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man replied. There was a brief moment of silence.

"I know." Rick told him. There was a brief silence as the man looked over all of us. He stopped his glance at me when he spoke.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." The man answered, slowly lowering his gun.

"We can do that." Rick told him.

"You got stuff to bring in you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed." He told us. Marcus passed me to Rachel and made a run for the trucks with Glenn, Rick, Daryl, and Shane. Rachel and I watched as the man swiped a card through a keypad.

"Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here." He spoke to the machine. We watched the metal gates slowly close.

"Rick Grimes." Rick held out his hand for the man to shake. The guys looked a little hesitate, but eventually reached out to shake his hand.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." We followed Dr. Jenner to the elevator and quietly got on. The elevator was awkward and quiet. Marcus held me as he stood next to Daryl. Rachel stood on Marcus' other side by Glenn.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked him, eyeing the assault rifle.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself. But you guys look harmless enough. Except you." Dr. Jenner said to Carl. "I'll have to keep my eye on you." Carl glanced at me, trying to decide if the guy was kidding. Seeing my smirk, he too smirked back to Dr. Jenner. The elevator finally came to a stop. We filed out as we followed Dr. Jenner down the hallway.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked. I looked around the brick walls, noticing there were no windows.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Dr. Jenner asked in response.

"A little." Carol admitted.

"Try not to think about it." Dr. Jenner responded a little sarcastically. We soon came to a big open room. "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room." The lights flickered on to show a room with some old looking computers in a circle and a big screen taking up an entire wall. "Welcome to zone 5."

"Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?" Rick asked. So far we had yet to see anyone else in the building with Dr. Jenner.

"I'm it. It's just me here." Dr. Jenner admitted to us. I wasn't sure why, but I could feel the atmosphere of our group sink.

"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asked.

"Vi, say hello to our guests." Dr. Jenner spoke, looking at no one in particular. "Tell them…welcome."

"Hello, guests. Welcome." A computeristic female voice replied.

"I'm all that's left. I'm sorry." Dr. Jenner genuinely looked sorry. "Let's get those blood samples. We all wordlessly let him take our blood. Rachel squirmed as she got hers taken. "Don't like needles?" Dr. Jenner asked her. She shook her head no as he pulled it out.

"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever." Andrea complained.

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." Dr. Jenner responded. "All done." As Andrea got up, she began to sway. "You ok?"

"She hasn't eaten in days. None of us have." Dr. Jenner looked at Carl, Sophia, and I a little in concern.

"Follow me. I can fix that." Dr. Jenner told us. We all quickly got up and followed him into a kitchen with a table. Jenner got us out lots of food and drinks as we pulled up chairs. Soon enough we were eating, laughing and making jokes.

"You know in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner." Dale said as he handed Lori her glass of wine. "And in France."

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori responded as she put her hand over Carl's cup.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on." Rick defended for Carl. "Come on." Lori just looked at him. "What?" They all started laughing again. Lori shrugged.

"I want some too!" I yelled. Marcus nodded at Dale as he passed Carl and I a small amount of wine.

"There you are young lad and lady." Dale announced. He watched as Carl and I took sips.

"Eww." Carl said as he sat the cup back down on the table. I grimaced as the bitter taste hit my taste buds. Everyone laughed at mine and Carl's reaction. Marcus swiftly took my cup and down the rest in one gulp.

"Are you even old enough for that?" T-dog asked him. Marcus grinned at him mischievously while Rachel shook her head no. Everyone continued to laugh.

"Not you, Glenn." Daryl called out as he reached over me to get some food. Glenn looked up from the wine bottle he was holding.

"What?" Glenn asked, confused. Daryl moved over to get some liquor.

"Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get." Everyone laughed. Rick suddenly tapped his wine glass.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." Rick announced.

"He is more than just our host." T-dog said. Everyone raised their glasses in honor of Dr. Jenner.

"Hear hear!" Chorused around the room. "Booyah!" People chuckled as they toasted each other.

"Thank you. Thank you, doctor." The merriment began to die down as Shane spoke.

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, doc?" Shane asked, effectively shutting us all up. "All the…the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?" Was he trying to make us sad?

"We're celebrating, Shane. Don't need to do this now." Rick responded for Dr. Jenner.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move…supposed to find all the answers. Instead we…we found him. We found one man. Why?" Shane smarted off. Was he trying to be a dick?

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Everyone's attention was now on Dr. Jenner.

"Every last one?" Shane asked, like he didn't believe him. I rolled my eyes at him.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They…opted out." Huh? "There was a rash of suicides." My mind flashed to the few corpses that we had come across in houses that where strung up from hanging themselves. My stomach turned, no longer hungry. "That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave. Why?" Andrea asked.

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Dr. Jenner answered, effectively killing the happy mood.

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man." Glenn pointedly looked at Shane.

"Got that right." Marcus muttered under his breath. Shane glared at Marcus before looking off.

"If y'all grab your stuff, I can show you where you can stay." There was a small buzz of chatter as everyone grabbed their things. We followed Dr. Jenner down the hallway.

"Come on, Princess!" Sophie grabbed my hand as we walked behind the doctor, Blade trotting at our heals. Carl walked on my other side.

"Most of the facility is powered down, including housing. So you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay?" Jenner turned and told us. "Or anything that draws power." The three of us nodded quickly. "The same applies," Jenner pointed to the rest of the group. "If you shower, go easy on the hot water."

"Hot water?" Glenn asked in excitement as Jenner walked off down the hallway.

"That's what the man said." T-dog replied. Everyone quickly began filing into different rooms.

"Princess, in here!" Rachel called for me. I scooped up Blade as I ran into the room. "What do you say to a shower?" Rachel asked. I whooped as I dragged Blade into the shower with us. Rachel and I splashed and giggled as scrubbed our filthy bodies.

"Hurry up in there! I want a turn!" Marcus banged on the door. Rachel, Blade, and I jumped out of the shower. I quickly threw on some clothes and began to dry off Blade as I walked into the room. Dr. Jenner was standing in the doorway.

"Quiet a lot of bites you got there." He gestured to my many swollen and angry looking bites. "How you feeling?"

"They hurt, but I can breath alright." Marcus rummaged through my satchel, before pulling out my cream.

"Her doctor prescribed her this for her bites. Should we put some of it on?" Marcus tossed the tube to Jenner.

"Yea, twice a day at most. Try to keep it propped up and don't run around for a day or two." Jenner threw the tube back before walking off. I hopped up on the fold out bed and watched as my brother put the cream on my leg.

"Princess, come play in the game room." Carl said as he ran by the door. I tried to get up but Marcus pushed me back down.

"Oh, no you don't. You got to stay here and keep this propped up." Marcus ruffled my hair as he walked to the bathroom. I swatted his hand away and let out a huff.

"I'm going to get some water. Stay here." Rachel told me as she left. I waited a few seconds before hopping up. I glanced down the hallway in time to see Rachel turn from view. I quickly ran passed Rick and Dale to the game room.

"What's there to play?" I asked as I burst into the room. Carol smiled at me as I plopped down in between Sophia and Carl. I made sure to lay my leg out straight so that it could count as "resting".

"Just some board games and books." Carl motioned to the wall full of books. None of them looked remotely interesting.

"You guys chose checkers?" I asked, looking at the game skeptically. Blade trotted over and sat in Sophia's lap on the floor.

"Would you rather play trivia-challenge?" Sophia asked me, raising an eyebrow as she began to pet my dog. I blew out a breath and resigned myself to checkers. Lori came in with a glass of wine.

"Any good books?" Lori asked Carol, who nodded in response. I watched as Carl and Sophia took turns moving their pieces.

"Enough to keep us busy for years." Carol added. Sophia and Carl made moves on the board that didn't seem to make sense to me.

"Do you guys even know how to play this game?" I asked. Carl nodded, not looking up from the board game.

"He's teaching me." Sophia added. "I think I'm losing." She added, smiling. Sophia was so nice, she reminded me a lot of her mother.

"Can you –" I started to ask Carl, but was cut off by Rachel bursting into the room.

"What part of don't leave the room and keep your foot propped up was hard to understand?" She said with her hands on her hip.

"It is propped up." I pointed to it as it lay on the ground. Rachel threw her hands in the air as she went back to our room.

"All right. Come on kids, it's bedtime." Carol announced. Sophia got up as she followed her mother.

"Baby go say your prayers. I'm gonna browse a bit." Lori told Carl. Carl grabbed my hand and helped pull me up.

"This is the first night we might actually get some real sleep." Carol added as we walked to the door. We passed Shane as he walked into the room. Curiosity got the better of me and I paused at the door, watching what he was going to do. He watched Lori for a minute before he closed the side door. Lori jumped.

"Jesus you scared me." Lori told him. Shane looked completely drunk.

"I'm gonna tell you a few things and you're gonna listen to me." Shane tried to command her.

"Now is not the time." Lori told him in a firm voice. Shane scoffed at her.

"Come on. When is it ever the time?" Lori began walking toward the door. "How can you treat me like this?" Shane moved to block her path.

"You're kidding, right?" Lori asked in a serious voice. Shane shook his head in disagreement. "Because you told me my husband was dead." Lori walked around him and started toward the door. I scooted into the hallway so that I was out of sight.

"Jesus, Lori. I didn't lie to you, all right? I didn't. Do you know what it was like there?" Shane slammed the door. I leaned my head against the wood so that I could hear. "Stop. Things were falling apart. They were slaughtering people in the hallways. It was a massacre. There were walkers everywhere."

"So you left him?" Lori accused, her voice muffled through the wood.

"Everybody else ran. There were no doctors there. It was just me. He was hooked up to machines and I did not know what to do. I even took my ear and I put it on his chest and I listened for a heartbeat and I did not hear one. And I-I-I-I-I don't know why. Maybe it was gunfire. I don't know what it was, but there was no way he could've survived that. No way." Shane's voice broke several times through out his speech.

"He did." Lori said firmly.

"Yeah, but then I had y'all to think about, didn't I? I had you and Carl, and I needed to think about. I had to get you guys safe to Atlanta. That's what I had to do. Just stop." Shane started, as their voice grew fainter. I open the door a crack to look inside. "If you thought for one second that he was still alive, would you have come? So I save your life, you and your little boy's. That's what I did. Right? And if I could've traded places with him, I would have. I would trade places with him right now because…no, no, no. I love you."

"No. No, you're drunk." Lori denied as she leaned back away from Shane while he leaned in.

"And I know there were some things that say that you love me too, because there's no way that you could've been with me the way that you were." Shane rushed out before swooping in and kissing Lori. I let out a gasp before I could stop it. Shane and Lori sprung apart as Shane whipped around and made eye contact with me. I quickly sprinted down the hallway to my room and jumped on the bed. Marcus was already sprawled out across it as he read through his favorite book, _War of the Worlds_. Shane appeared in the doorway and stared at me. My breaths came in puffs from my sprint to my room. Shane and I stared at each other.

"Hey, man. Did you need something?" Marcus asked as he peaked from around his book. Shane didn't look away from as he took a drunken step forward. Marcus leaned his arm in front of me as I coward behind his back. "Is there something I can help you with?" Marcus used an unusually hard voice. It seemed to snap Shane out of his stupor.

"Naw, man. Just…making sure she got back to her room alright." Shane gave us a crazy smile before he walked off. Marcus got up, closed the door, and locked it.

"What the hell was that?" Marcus asked. I shrugged and petted Blade in my lap. Would Shane hurt me if I told anyone? Marcus huffed as he crawled into bed. "Come on, don't close off on me. What happened?" Rachel came out of the bathroom and crawled into bed on my other side.

"Lori is mad at Shane for telling her that Rick was dead. Shane says he loves Lori…He kissed her…he forced the kiss." I muttered, still looking down. Marcus got up and went out the door.

"You ok?" Rachel asked as she pulled me to lie down next to her. I nodded as Marcus came back.

"She's fine, just shook up." Marcus muttered. He locked the door behind him. "You two, stay away from him. He doesn't seem like he's got his head screwed on straight any more." Rachel hummed in agreement as I nodded. Marcus flopped on the bed, causing Rachel and I to bounce up. I laughed as Marcus threw his arm over the two of us.

"God, I missed beds." I heard him mumble before sleep over took me.


	6. Chapter 6

**So here is the next chapter! All my school stuff is finished and I am finally in summer so I will be able to write to my hearts content!**

**To Kansas: Thanks for the review and I'm glad you like the story! You will just have to wait and see who Daryl ends up with.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed the story!**

**A special thanks to BreenaBelle-xoxo for all the support and encouragement! You guys seriously need to go and check out her two Walking Dead FanFictions! They are great!**

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Marcus buried his head in his pillow as he tried to sleep longer, but with the sound of Rachel getting ready, he wasn't able to. She had already flung open the door to let in the hall light. I sat in the bed next to my brother, poking him. He groaned every time I gave him a jab and swatted my hand away. Sophia suddenly poked her head into my room. I smiled at her as I gave her Marcus another jab.

"Can I braid your hair?" She asked me. I nodded. She jumped on the bed, causing Marcus to groan at the movement. Rachel came out of the bathroom and smiled at Sophia and I.

"Wake up!" Rachel yelled in Marcus' ear as she slapped him hard on his back. Marcus jumped and glared at her as he tried to swat at her. Rachel jumped out of the way. "You didn't even drink anything last night. So stop being lazy and get up." Marcus ignored her as he turned to watch Sophia braid my hair. Carl ran by the door, as Sophia was finishing up my braid. He scrunched his nose at the two of us.

"Why couldn't one of you be a boy?" He groaned at us. Rachel chuckled as she put on her shoes.

"Princess is more of a boy than a girl." Rachel laughed. Everyone laughed while I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Come on, I'm hungry. Let's go see what's for breakfast." Sophia jumped off the bed as she picked up Blade. I scrambled to get off the bed. Carl raced down the hallway, not even waiting for us as he ran to get some food.

"Satchel!" Rachel yelled as she threw my bag at me. I quickly caught it and threw it over my shoulder. I grabbed Sophia's hand and skipped down the hallway toward breakfast. I sat in between Carl and Sophia as everyone began to trickle into get breakfast. Lori glanced at me, but didn't say anything. Rick greeted Shane as he walked into the room. I shrunk a little in my seat, but he paid no attention to me.

"Feel as bad as I do?" Rick asked Shane as he went straight for the coffee. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Lori pointedly staring at her plate.

"Worse." Shane mumbled in response.

"What the hell happened to you?" T-dog asked as he looked at Shane. I glanced up seeing some scratch marks on his neck.

"I must have done it in my sleep." Shane mumbled as he sat down across from me. He gave me a glance and I quickly looked down at my plate.

"Never seen you do that before." Rick commented as he looked at his best friend with worry.

"Me neither." Shane looked over at Lori. "Not like me at all." Lori glanced down at her plate as she continued to eat. Marcus and Rachel sat down on the other side of Sophia as Dr. Jenner came in. He greeted us as he went for the coffee.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing…" Dale began to ask him.

"But you will anyway." Dr. Jenner finished for him.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea told him sarcastically. Jeez, this woman could be a real bitch. Dr. Jenner glanced at all our faces.

"Follow me." We all walked silently back in to the large room with all of the computers. "Give me playback of TS-19." Dr. Jenner told the computer.

"Playback of TS-19." The computer spoke. Scans of what looked like a human brain came up on the big screen.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." Dr. Jenner told us. We all continued to stare silently at the screen.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked from beside me. Jenner turned to look at the both of us.

"An extraordinary one. Not that it matters in the end." Dr. Jenner turned back to the computer. "Take us in for EIV."

"Enhanced internal view." The computer responded. We watched as the screen went inside the brain and little lights seemed to surge through it.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked him. I turned to look for my siblings. Both were standing by Daryl, all three looking at the screen raptly.

"It's a person's life…experiences, memories. It's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you…the thing that makes you unique." Jenner told us. Why couldn't they have used this in Science class at school? I would have paid loads more attention. "And human."

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl said in response to his riddle. Jenner pointed to the screen.

"Those are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does, or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death." Dr. Jenner told us.

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked as he looked from the screen to the doctor.

"Yes." Dr. Jenner answered. Huh? What did that mean? "Or rather the playback of the vigil."

"This person died?" Andrea asked. I looked back at the screen now, slightly horrified at the image. I walked over to Rachel and grabbed her hand. "Who?"

"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected and volunteered to have us record the process." Jenner told us. "Vi, scan forward to the first event." The video of the person's brain zoomed forward. It showed the lights beginning to fade. The veins looked like a diseased tree that was dying.

"What is that?" Glenn asked.

"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs." Suddenly all the lights went out on the screen and the person stopped moving. Rachel pulled me closer as her hand stroked my braided hair. "Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be…gone." I leaned into my sister's side. I glanced at Marcus, who was on the other side of Daryl. Daryl and Marcus shared a glance, both wearing a mask to their emotions.

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked her mother. I don't know what I expected Carol to say, but whatever it was, it wasn't this.

"Yes." Even though I never talked to the guy, a cold pit formed in my stomach. Is that what would happen to my siblings and me when we eventually would get bit.

"She lost somebody two days ago. Her sister." Lori explained as Jenner watched Andrea crying.

"I lost somebody too." Jenner tried to comfort her some. "I know how devastating it is." Jenner turned back to the screen. "Scan to the second event." The screen began fast forwarding again. "The resurrection times vary wildly. We have reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute…seven seconds." Instead of the yellow lights in the brain we had seen before, now red light started to flicker.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked.

"No, just the brain stem. Basically it gets them up and moving." Jenner explained as we watched more red lights start to flicker.

"But they're not alive?" Rick asked.

"You tell me." Jenner responded. We watched the screen for a few seconds.

"It's nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark." Rick spoke his observations allowed.

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part…that doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell, driven by mindless instinct." Jenner explained. We watched as a barrel of a gun came on the screen and shot the walker through the head. It left a hole through the brain.

"God. What was that?" Carol asked as she looked at the screen.

"He shot his patient in the head." I answered. Jenner looked over at me. "Didn't you?"

"Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations." Jenner said, ignoring my question.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asked in an accusing voice. Jenner stayed quiet for a minute.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Jenner listed.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jacqui asked, her voice cracking.

"There is that." Jenner replied easily.

"Somebody must know something. Somebody somewhere." Andrea snapped, sounding angry.

"There are others, right? Other facilities?" Carol asked. Jenner paused a minute as he rock on his heals a minute.

"There may be some. People like me." Jenner answered us.

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick asked in confusion.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives…all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month." Jenner responded.

"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea demanded. I could feel the panic start to settle in the room.

"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again." Daryl commented as he began to pace.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but…that clock…it's counting down." We all turned to look at the large clock on the wall that had just reached below an hour. "What happens at zero?" Dale asked.

"The basement generators…they run out of fuel." Jenner said casually, turning back to the blank screen.

"And then?" Rick asked impatiently. Jenner didn't answer. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur." The computeristic voice told us. Rick looked around at the group.

"We should search for more fuel." Shane commented. Rick nodded in agreement as both them, Glenn, and T-dog ran off in search for fuel. The rest of us moved back to the rooms we were staying in. Instead of going to my room, I stopped at the door of Daryl's room. He had a bottle of whisky in his hand. I went and plopped on the couch next to him. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Can I help you?" Daryl snapped. I shook my head and picked up Blade from the floor as I began to pet him. Marcus paused at the door when he saw me with Daryl.

"Sweet." He commented as he flopped down on the other side of me.

"When did everyone get invites to my room?" Daryl growled at my brother. Marcus merely smirked as he reached over and took a swig of the whisky.

"When you stole the booze." He answered. Daryl swiped the bottle back, taking a swig himself. When Marcus reached back for the bottle, Daryl moved it further away from him. "Oh come on, man."

"You're underage." Daryl grumbled out as he propped his feet up on the table in front of us, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. I laughed at Marcus' face, which was scrunched up in pissed off disbelief.

"You just don't want to share." I laughed. Daryl's lip turned up in smirk.

"Nope. It's mine, I found it." Daryl peaked open one of his eyes as he glanced at me. "Plus you got a runt to look after. The dog too." Marcus groaned loudly as he flopped his head back. Suddenly the ac and then the lights went off. Daryl and Marcus sat up straight. They shared a look over my head before getting up and heading to the door.

"Why is the air off?" I heard Carol ask from the hallway as I got up and followed Daryl and Marcus to the door. "And the lights in our room?"

"What's going on? Why is everything turned off?" Daryl asked as the three of us poked our heads out of his room. Jenner walked by and grabbed the whisky bottle from Daryl.

"Energy use is being prioritized." Jenner responded as he walked down the hallway back toward the computer room.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked. Marcus and Daryl shared a glance before following Jenner down the hallway. Carl grabbed my wrist and pulled me along as we too followed Jenner.

"It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down." Jenner responded as he took a few drinks of the whisky.

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does this mean?" Daryl yelled after him. When Jenner didn't respond, Daryl ran up to behind him, Marcus right on his heals. "Hey, man, I'm talking to you. What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised." Jenner responded in a monotone voice.

"Rick?" Lori called out as Rick and the guys returned from their hunt for gas.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked as we continued to follow Jenner around the facility.

"The system is dropping all nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule." Jenner answer as we finally came back in the computer room. The large clock on the wall read 31 minutes. Jenner took another swig of whisky. He handed it back to Daryl, who snatched it so hard, some spilled out. "It was the French."

"What?" Andrea asked.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." Jenner told us.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked. There was a pause before Jenner answered.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice." I suddenly noticed that Jenner had changed back into his nice dress clothes and lab coat. "The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

"Let me tell you…" Shane angrily started to head toward Jenner. Rick grabbed his arm to stop him.

"To hell with it. I don't care. Lori, grab out things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!" Rick ordered us as he yelled. I was beginning to feel the earlier panic flood back into the room. Marcus grabbed my hand as we started walking to the door. Alarms began blaring after taking only a few steps.

"What's that?" Shane asked. Everyone stopped moving as we watched red lights begin to flash.

"Doc, what's going on here damn it?" Daryl yelled at him. Blade began to bark at the noise as Rachel ran over to Marcus and I, latching on to Marcus' other arm.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!" Shane yelled at us, spurring us to begin running for the door. Suddenly metal doors flew up at the exits, shutting us in.

"Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asked. The flashing red lights and alarms had been shut off once they closed. "He just locked us in!" Glenn yelled in panic. We all ran back over to where Jenner was sitting.

"You son of a bitch!" Daryl yelled, charging forward to Jenner. "You locked us in here!" Daryl grabbed onto Jenner's lab coat and pulled back to punch, but Shane and T-dog quickly moved to stop him.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now." Rick order. Marcus tucked Rachel and I closer to his body, like he was trying to shield us from the unknown threat.

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed." Jenner told us.

"Well, open the damn things." Dale growled at him, sounding angry for the first time sense I had met him.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that." Jenner defended himself.

"We didn't think you were being that literal." Marcus snapped. There room was quit for a few seconds.

"It's better this way." Jenner told us.

"What is?" Rick asked him. "What happens in 28 minutes?" Jenner went to typing on his keyboard. Rick and Shane shared an impatient glance.

"What happens in 28 minutes?!" Shane yelled in Jenner's face.

"Do you know what this place is?!" Jenner yelled back. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" Jenner paused as he went back to sitting in his chair, trying to collect himself. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure…in a terrorist attack, for example…HITs are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"HITs?" Rick questioned.

"Vi, define." Jenner spoke.

"HITs…high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear." The computer told us. I felt my breathing coming in smaller gasps and my eyes well up with tears as I realized that we were about to be blown up. "The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between and and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structure is desired." Marcus reached down and picked me up, before grabbing onto Rachel and pulling him to her chest as she clung to him.

"It sets the air on fire." Jenner elaborated. I buried my head in Marcus' shoulder as my tears started to come out of my eyes. "No pain." This was really it? This was how I was going to die? "An end to sorrow, grief…regret. Everything." I lifted my head at the sound of stomping to see Daryl storming over to the doors, Rick and Glenn following behind him. Daryl threw the whisky bottle at the door, smashing it.

"Open the damn door!" Daryl yelled at him. I watched as Shane charged up to the door with an axe, swinging at it like a mad man. T-dog threw an axe up to Daryl, and he too started swinging at the door. Marcus set me down, pushing me to Rachel as T-dog threw him an axe. He joined them in trying to break down the door. Rachel moved me over to Carol and Lori as they held their children.

"You should've left well enough alone. It would've been so much easier." Jenner said sadly as he watched on.

"Easier for who?" Lori asked angrily. I wiped my tears as I turned, catching Carl's eyes. We held a panicked gaze for a second before turning back to look at Jenner.

"All of you. You know what's out there…a short, brutal life and an agonizing death." Jenner turned to Andrea. "Your…your sister…what was her name?"

"Amy." Andrea replied in a calm voice. She had yet to shed a tear or show any signs of freaking out.

"Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it." Jenner turned to Rick. "Is that really what you want for your wife and son?" He turned to Rachel, who clutched me to her chest tighter. "Or your little sister. To watch her die like Andrea's did?"

"I don't want this." Rick interrupted him. I felt wetness hit my head and looked up to see Rachel was crying.

"Can't make a dent." Shane said as he leaned against a computer and panted.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner told him calmly.

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled as he ran over with his axe to Jenner. Rick, T-dog, and Dale grabbed onto Daryl to hold him back, screaming Daryl's name as they told him to stop. T-dog managed to wrestle the axe out of Daryl's.

"You do want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Jenner spoke to Rick. I glanced at our fearless leader, feeling myself sink a little.

"What? You really said that?" Shane asked with a pissed off voice. For once I kinda agreed with him. How could he have so little hope after all he had been telling us? "After all your big talk?"

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick defended himself.

"There is no hope. There never was." Jenner responded, trying to convince us to all just calm down.

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere…" Rick tried to lift our spirits.

"What part of 'everything is gone' do you not understand?" Andrea snapped in an angry tone.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event." Jenner told us. Marcus came back over to stand next to us.

"I think Daryl had the right idea. Just kill the bastard." Marcus grumbled under his breath as he glared daggers at Jenner.

"This isn't right. You can't just keep us here." Carol said as she cried and held Sophia close to her.

"One tiny moment…a millisecond. No pain." Jenner tried to convince her.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this." Carol continued to cry.

"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner asked. A gun cocked behind me. I turned to see Shane walking back over. Dale and Rick rushed to stop him from shooting Jenner, but Shane shoved his way through. Marcus quickly pulled Rachel and I away from them.

"Open the door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?!" Shane stared at Jenner with crazy eyes.

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here." Rick spoke to him.

"Shane, you listen to him." Lori tied to get through to him.

"It's too late." Shane confirmed.

"He dies, we all…" Rick started, but Shane began to scream as he shoved the gun against Jenner's face. "We all die! Shane!" Shane turned and shot the computers behind Jenner. Marcus buried my head in his stomach to shield me. Rick managed to wrestle the gun from Shane and shoved him to the floor. "Are you done now? Are you done?" Rick asked Shane as he stood above him.

"Yeah, I guess we all are." Shane responded. Rick passed the gun to T-dog. We all watched Rick as we waited to see what he would do next.

"I think you're lying." Rick told Jenner.

"What?" Jenner asked.

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?" Rick pressed.

"It doesn't matter." Jenner responded quietly.

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?" Rick continued to press on.

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise…to her." Jenner responded as he stood and pointed at the blank screen. "My wife." He was married to his computer? That didn't seem legal.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked him. Oh…that made more sense I guess. A little less interesting, though.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could." Jenner told us. "How could I say no?" A pounding sound drew out attention to Daryl as he swung at the door with an axe. "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the world. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just…Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's…that's all we want…a choice, a chance." Rick pleads with him.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can." Lori pleads as her voice began to break. Jenner finally looked like he was breaking down.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." Jenner told us. We watched as he went to scan his card. The doors flew down.

"Come on!" Daryl yelled at us. With only four minutes left on the clock, Marcus grabbed Rachel and mine's hands as he pulled us for the door, not waiting for the others. Rachel finally pulled him to a stop as Jacqui told us that she is staying.

"I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's not time to argue and no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out." She told us as she cried. Marcus began to pull us again for the exit. We paused again for a moment as Andrea told us she was staying too. We raced up the dark stairs as fast as possible. I tripped as we ran up the stairs. I felt arms scoop me up with no hesitation. Daryl continued to sprint up the stairs as he carried me. Once we reached the landing, he paused long enough to set me on the ground before running into his room to grab his things. Everything was a scramble as we managed to grab a few bags. We ran to the lobby as Marcus, Glenn, Shane, and T-dog went to bang on the chained closed doors.

"Get them doors open!" Glenn yelled.

"Come on!" T-dog yelled at the doors. We watched as the guys banged on the doors.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" T-dog went to the control panel, pushing a few buttons. The doors still didn't open. Shane, Marcus, and Daryl took the axe's to the windows in an attempt to break them, but they barely chipped. T-dog ran at the window, trying to bust it with a chair.

"Dog, get down! Get down!" Shane said as he began to fire a gun at the window. The window still barely chipped.

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asked from where she had taken cover next to me.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol said as she began to dig into her backpack.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane sassed. Seriously? We are about to get blown up and we are making snarky comments?

"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." Carol handed over a hand grenade to Rick.

"Look out!" Shane yelled as everyone ran for cover. T-dog put his body over my crouched one as a loud explosion caused glass to shatter. T-dog grabbed my hand as we ran forward out the window. Walkers were there, drawn by the noise of us breaking the window. T-dog held tightly to my hand as we ran to the cars. Marcus was right behind us, pulling Rachel with him. We scrambled into the car as quickly as we could. Andrea and Dale came running out.

"Duck down!" T-dog yelled as he grabbed my shoulder next to him in the front seat and pulled me down. The explosion shook the car. We slowly lifted our heads and silently watched the fire and smoke rise from the building. T-dog wordlessly cranked the car and followed the others as we began driving.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the later update!**

**Thanks so much for all the follows, favorites, and reviews!**

**To Kansas: I know right! I love how close Princess is with her siblings and how protective they are of each other. I'm so glad you are liking the story! Hope you keep liking it!**

**A special thanks to BreenaBelle-xoxo for her constant support and advice for the story! You guys have got to check out her Walking Dead Fic's!**

* * *

The next day our group decided to head to Fort Benning and to down size the numbers of cars we had. We kept the RV, Carols hatchback, and Daryl's motorcycle.

"Can I ride on the motorcycle with Daryl?" I asked as Daryl let me take a turn sitting on it.

"There's not a helmet, so no." Rachel told me as she walked onto the RV. I made puppy eyes at Marcus.

"Rachel is right, besides, I don't think Daryl would be too particularly happy having you ride with him." Marcus smiled at Daryl over my head. I huffed out a breath that turned into a loud laugh as Marcus picked me up and threw me over his shoulder as we walked onto the RV. Daryl smirked at me, shaking his head as he got onto his bike. Blade ran into the RV after me. Daryl led the way on his motorbike, the RV was next, and in our line ended with the hatchback. As the long drive started Marcus and Rachel went back to sleep on the bed while I stayed up front and watched as Shane took apart his gun and cleaned it.

"Looks complicated." Andrea commented. I stood at the end of the table as I watched. Shane looked pretty sad, like he was just cleaning his gun to have something to do.

"The trick is getting all these pieces back together the same way. I could clean yours, show you how." Shane offered. He glanced at me a little wearily at first. "You wanna learn?" Shane dug around in the gun bag at his feet.

"My dad already showed me how." I told him. Shane nodded in acknowledgement as he checked out Andrea's gun.

"Oh, yeah. It's a sweet piece." Shane told her.

"It was a gift from my father. He gave it to me just before Amy and I took off on our road trip. He said two girls on their own should be able to defend themselves." Andrea told us sadly.

"Smart man, your father. Look, it's a limited capacity. See? Only holds seven rounds." Shane began to explain to Andrea.

"Oh, jeez." Dale's voice caught our attention. We looked up front to see an over turned tractor-trailer blocking the road. Daryl drove back next to us. "See a way through." Daryl nodded in response and motioned us to follow him. Glenn glanced down at the map.

"Uh, maybe we should just go back." Glenn told us worriedly. "There's an interstate bypass –"

"We can't spare the fuel." Dale cut him off. I sat down on the floor next to Glenn. Glenn glanced at me and smiled. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I really liked Glenn. I smiled back and without asking, climbed in his lap. I heard Glenn let out a nervous laugh behind me. I turned back and smiled to him. He returned it as well, putting an arm around my waist to make sure I didn't slip off his lap.

"Jeez." Glenn muttered as we looked at all the over turned cars. I looked closer in a few of the cars and could see dead people. I quickly looked away, grabbing onto Glenn's arm that was around me. "Can we get through here?" Suddenly something blew in the engine, causing me to jump. Smoke rose from the RV as it began to make a squealing noise. I hopped up from Glenn's lap and followed Shane out of the RV.

"I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water." Dale complained as he went to go and check the engine.

"Problem, Dale?" Shane drawled as he looked around, watching for walkers. Our group gathered around the RV.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of…ok that was dumb." Dale answered. What was dumb? I turned with Glenn as I watched Daryl begin to rummage through the back of a car.

"If you can't find a radiator hose here…" Shane trailed off. Oh, we're going to scavenge the cars. This will be so much fun! I loved dumpster diving and searching through junkyards!

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl responded as he continued to look through the car.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-dog walked past me as he eyed which car to steal gas from.

"Maybe some water." Carol muttered from behind me.

"Or food." Glenn smirked at me as my stomach made a gurgling noise. I rubbed my stomach mournfully.

"This is a graveyard." Lori said. Everyone turned to look at her. Well that was a depressing thought. "I don't know how I feel about this." Everyone glanced at each other. We still needed the stuff, and the dead people weren't going to use it.

"All right, all right, here we go. Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." T-dog told us, spurring us back into action.

"I'm going with Glenn. You stay in the sight of Rachel, Lori, Carol, or Rick." Marcus flicked me on the nose as he walked off with Glenn. I stuck my tongue out at him. Rachel laughed as she grabbed my hand. We walked toward a small blue car and opened it up as we looked through the things. Rachel grabbed a few t-shirts and a pair of pants, stuffing it into a bag she emptied. I opened the front seat and a practically mummified woman almost fell out. I looked her over sadly, before noticing she had the same Mississippi Cotton Ball pearl necklace that Rachel did.

"Look, Rach! She has the same necklace as you." Rachel glanced over at the women sadly.

"Didn't I tell you I would get you one of those for your birthday this year?" Rachel asked me. I nodded.

"That way we could match!" I told her smiling. Rachel smiled back and looked at me for a minute.

"Alright, I don't exactly know what day it is, but…" Rachel reached in and took the necklace off of the women's body. "Here is your maybe early or maybe late birthday present." My eyes widened as she motioned for me to turn around. I did so quickly, playing with the necklace as she fastened it behind me. "There. Now everyone will know we are sisters." I gave Rachel a big hug.

"Can I go show Sophia?" Rachel nodded at me as I ran over to Sophia, Blade nipping at my heals. "Sophia!" I exclaimed, about to show her my necklace, but I stopped when I noticed Rick in the distance pointing his gun at something. That's when I saw it, a large group of walkers coming right for us. Rick ran, ducking low so it was harder to be seen. "Lori, under the cars. Carl, Sophia, Princess, get down now." Sophia grabbed my hand as we ran to duck under a car. I looked over to see Carl under one car and Rick under another on the other side of Carl. Sophia and I held hands tightly as we hid. Blade sat right in front of our face. We watched, terrified, as their feet shuffled past our face. Blade started barking and ran out from under the car, running off into the woods as a walker followed him. I made a squeak and tried to go after him, but Sophia pulled me back. I looked over at her and saw Rick in the background, shaking his head and silently telling me to stay. Slowly the feet began to disappear till there was none left. I turned to look at Rick, watching for a signal. Sophia poked her head out, but unfortunately right as she did, a straggling walker came by. She gasped as she jerked back under. It got down on the ground and began reaching for us. I shuffled out from underneath the car to the other side. It followed us across under the car as we began to crawl out. I got out first and furiously pulled Sophia to her feet. Another walker began to come around the back. Sophia grabbed my hand and pulled me into the woods with her as we ran from the walkers.

"Princess hurry!" Sophia pulled me quickly. My leg still hurt some from the bites, but I ignored the pain as I continued to run with Sophia. Sophia was whimpering as we ran. We both kept glancing over our shoulder as we went deeper into the woods. Sophia tripped, pulling me down with her. She jumped up quicker than me and half dragged me as I tried to right myself while running. That was when we ran into Rick. He shushed us both.

"Are y'all alright? Are y'all okay?" Rick asked us, as he looked us over. I nodded, but Sophia was panicking. She reached over Rick to grab at his gun.

"Shoot them!" She whimpered. Rick grabbed her and looked her in the face as he talked.

"No! Those walkers on the road would hear it. Then it wouldn't be just two it'd be hundreds. Come here." Rick scooped up Sophia in his arms. He looked down at me. I was panicking, but trying to stay calm like my brother told me to always do in these types of situations. "Can you keep up if we run?" I nodded. "Ok, come on. Hold onto my belt loop." I did as he said and was practically dragged as we ran, but I never let go of his belt loop. We stopped when we reached a river. "All right, just hold here. You stay there." Rick jumped down into the river, helping Sophia and I down next. "Sophia, Princess, you have to do exactly as I say. Hide in there. Squeeze in tight. I'll draw them away from y'all." Rick pushed us toward a small cove in the riverbank.

"No, no, don't leave us!" Sophia begged. I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest from how scared I was.

"Listen. They don't get winded. I do. I can only deal with them one at a time. I wouldn't be able to protect you two. This is how we all survive. You understand?" We both nodded and turned to crawl into the hole. "If I don't make it back, run back to the highway, back to the others straight the way we came. Keep the sun on your left shoulder." Rick backed away and began running as the walkers approached. Sophia and I clung to each other as we waited for them to disappear. After a few seconds we crawled out and climbed back up the riverbank. We held hands as we followed Rick's directions and began walking back to the others. Suddenly there was a noise. We both stopped and turned toward it. I took a hesitant step toward the noise. Upon closer inspection, I could see it was a rabbit. My mind flashed back to Glenn saying we needed food. I pulled out one of my small knives and threw it into the rabbit. I went and picked it up, smiling, and turned to show Sophia, only…she wasn't there. I spun around quickly, hopping to see a glimpse of her somewhere, but she was gone. She must have gotten spooked and run off. She probably thought I would have heard and followed her.

"Sophia?" I yelled out. There was no answer. I could feel my breaths getting shorter as I started to panic. It was different when I had another person with me. Now I was alone. In an effort to stop myself from panicking, I ran blindly in a random direction. I couldn't remember which way I was supposed to run anymore. I stopped running when I couldn't breath anymore, leaning against a tree. I let a few panicked tears start to fall as I realized that I was lost. I heard a dog bark in the distance. "Blade?" I yelled, starting to run toward the bark. Unfortunately it seemed some walkers had heard me yelling. I dropped the rabbit I barely realized that I had been holding and stabbed the walker in the head as it reached down for me. I smiled at my kill. Maybe I could do this. Suddenly I was knocked over as one came at me from behind. I whimpered and struggled as I attempted to stay away from the walker's teeth. Suddenly there was growling and the walker was off of me. I flipped over to see Blade biting and barking at it. I quickly picked up my knife and stabbed the walker in the head as it was distracted. I panted as I sat on the ground. Blade trotted over to me happily, his white fur stained red with walker blood.

"Good job, boy." I praised as he gave me a few licks. I crawled over to the rabbit, picked it up and began trying to find my way back to the others. I kept walking, even as the sky began to get darker. I knew I would have to find a safe place for the night, but I wasn't sure what. My stomach groaned in hunger. I looked down at the rabbit. Marcus was going to teach me how to skin everything and know which parts to eat before the world went to hell. I still didn't know though. I looked around. There was no place for me to go but up. I pulled out one of my extra shirts and wrapped it around the rabbit before putting it back in my satchel. I picked up Blade and put him in there as well before climbing the tree till I was high enough that no one would reach me. I sat Blade in my lap as I leaned up against the trunk. I let my eyes drift close, praying I could find my way tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's the next chapter! Sorry for the wait!**

**Thanks to all the favorite, follows, and reviews!**

**Also, thanks to BreenaBelle-xoxo for all her support and input for the story! You guys got to check out her two Walking Dead stories. They are amazing! **

* * *

**Marcus' POV:**

I concentrated on gathering supplies for the group. I glanced over at Carol, who was just standing there, watching for them to come back. I couldn't think about it. I couldn't just stand around and do nothing. I'd lose my mind. Rick convinced me to wait here with the others while he went to go and get them. I'd started regretting that decision since Shane and Glenn came back. It was getting dark as Glenn and I carried some food back to the RV.

"Oh, God, they're back." Glenn said. My head whipped over to the tree line as I dropped the food and jogged over. My heart dropped into my stomach when no little girl followed Rick and Daryl.

"You didn't find her?" Carol asked, on the verge of tears.

"Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again at first light." Rick told Carol and I. I gripped my hair hard while clenching my teeth. I should have gone out their with them.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol cried. I felt Rachel's hand grip my shirt as she came to stand next to me.

"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people'd get lost." Daryl explained.

"But their 12. They can't be out there on their own." Carol cried.

"Princess is 10." Rachel spoke quietly, gripping my shirt harder as I yanked on my hair in order to stop myself from yelling. I could feel the unease of the group at the mention of how young Princess was. I usually had good self-control and could keep a level head, but I couldn't see rationality in anything now that Princess was away from my side.

"You didn't find anything?" Carol begged.

"I know this is hard. But I'm asking you not to panic. We know they were both out there." Rick tried to keep us calm. I began to a rock back and forth on my heals.

"And we tracked her for a while." Daryl added. "Their foot prints split up though."

"What do you mean split up?" I asked. My voice sounded hard and empty even to myself.

"Their tracks went two separate directions." Daryl elaborated. That's just great. Being separated would freak Princess out more than anything else.

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this." Rick told everyone.

"Is-is that blood?" Rachel asked in a soft voice. My eyes shot over to Daryl, who had fresh blood on his shoes. Carol began to breath heavily as she panicked.

"We took down a walker." Rick explained. Walkers? Freaking fantastic! I heard Rachel whimper next to me.

"Walker? Oh, my God." Carol looked like she was about to have a mental breakdown and I didn't feel like I would be that far behind her.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia or Princess." Rick soothed

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked.

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Daryl said, looking between Carol, Rachel, and I. Carol sat down on the railing by the highway.

"How could you just leave them out there to begin with? How could you just leave them?" Carol demanded. I couldn't deny I was thinking the same thing.

"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was their best chance." Rick defended.

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol." Shane quickly went to his friend's defense.

"How were they supposed to find their way back on their own? They're just children. She's just a child." Carol cried.

"It was my only option. The only choice I could make." Rick was practically begging Carol for her forgiveness. I couldn't take any of this shit anymore. I went two cars over to find my things.

"Where are you going?" Rachel demanded, following me. I could hear a few footsteps following me.

"You guys can stay put for the night, but I'm going out there to look for them." I told her.

"Really, you got heat seeking vision?" Rachel sounded pissed, I continued to not look at her, knowing if I did I would cave and listen to her. Rachel always teased me about Princess being my favorite since I couldn't deny her anything, but truth was, I couldn't deny either of them anything.

"No, but I've been trained to track since I could walk, and I know woods." I countered as I checked the barrel of my gun.

"No, you know the woods in Mississippi. You know, where we use to live and hunt. You don't know them here." Rachel snapped. I ignored her as I slung my backpack over my shoulder. "Just look at me." I continued to not look at her. Instead, I stared over her at Daryl, Glenn, and Shane as they watched, waiting and listening for me to make my move. "I said look at me, Squid." Rachel growled as she took a fistful of my hair and yanked my head down so that I had to look at her. "I know you want to find her, we both do. But we can't do it at night. It will just end up in all of us dying. We will both go to look for her with the rest of the group in the morning. We survive together, Kapeesh?" I knew she was right, as always. I gave a quick nod before throwing my stuff to the ground and leaning against the car. Rachel sat beside me and leaned on my side.

"Is there every anything you're not right about?" I teased Rachel, who chuckled in response.

"Nope. Everyone knows you're the muscle, I'm the brains, and Princess is the face that helps give us innocence." I smirked in response.

"You in the Navy, kid?" Shane asked, sizing me up. I nodded.

"Yeah, I was for three years. I was stationed in Meridian, MS when it all went to hell. Our squad got scrambled, so I took off for home to find my sisters." I ran my hand through my long hair. I should really cut these curls off. I hadn't let it grow this long since I was 14.

"Where y'all from in Mississippi?" Daryl asked curiously.

"Pelahatchie. I doubt you heard of it unless you're from there." Rachel chuckled humorously.

"How did y'all get in Georgia?" Glenn asked us as he came to sit across from the two of us.

"Came for Atlanta. Even in 'ssippi it was rumored to be a safe zone." I told them. We stayed in silence after that. Worry ate at my insides until I finally passed out from exhaustion.

* * *

Dawn broke the next morning as we all gathered a few things for the search. Rick walked by us, but Rachel stopped him.

"You know, Marcus and I don't blame you for Princess never getting back here." Rachel told him. Rick looked at my pissed off face with skepticism. Rachel elbowed me in the stomach.

"I-I don't blame you." I admitted. Rick still looked at me as if he didn't believe me. "I'm mostly mad at myself for not going after her, letting myself be talked into waiting here. Truth is, I probably would have made the same decisions you did."

"She was calm, Princess that is. She wasn't freaking out like Sophia was. I don't understand why they split like they did." Rick reasoned.

"If Sophia went first, Princess probably panicked. Being alone freaks her out if it's unexpected." Rachel told Rick.

"She's stayed in the woods overnight by herself on hunting trips. She'll be okay." I said, more speaking to myself than anyone, not really believing the words either. Rick nodded, unsure. We followed him to the rest of the group as he threw a pouch of knives on the hood of a truck.

"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick told people.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea demanded. I rolled my eyes.

"We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, Marcus, Rachel, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane told her. Andrea glared at Rachel with distain, obviously jealous that Rachel could carry and she couldn't.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea added, still glaring at Rachel. Rachel and I shared a glance. I could literally hear Rachel's voice in my head saying, 'Bitch, please.' I gave a small snort. I could feel Rachel practically begging her to say a snide comment about her. "You feel more comfortable with two kids holding a gun than me."

"Sweet heart, Marcus, Princess, and I have been shooting guns and hunting things since we were three years old. I started going on hunting trips by myself at 7, just like Marcus and Princess did. There's also the fact that Marcus is a Navy Seal. But yeah, let's give the lawyer a gun. She will definitely know what to do with it more than me." Rachel snapped. I couldn't stop the smirk that came on my face as Rachel glared at Andrea. Glenn and I shared an amused look over Rachel's head.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Shane responded, smirking himself.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side." Daryl instructed. I watched Glenn examine the weapon he chose. The sugar cane knife reminded me of one of the blades that the Orcs from the Lord of the Rings used. I chuckled quietly at the look of child like joy on Glenn's face. "Chances are they'll be by the creek. It's their only landmark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick told us.

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane spoke next, handing out a water bottle to everyone that was coming. We watched off to the side as Andrea went to Dale, begging him for her gun back. As they began to fight about her getting her gun and whether or not Dale should have let her commit suicide, I couldn't help the anger that flowed through me. Was this really the time and place for this? We had to look for the girls. And honestly, Dale should have let Andrea stay in the CDC to get killed. She has hardly contributed to the group except for snide comments and complaining. Finally, Andrea finished making Dale feel like shit for being a good person, and marched over angrily to the rest of the group. We moved silently to the woods. I walked behind Carol, Rachel right behind me, quickly followed by Glenn.

"So, where do you think your sister would go?" Glenn asked us. I thought about it, recalling what she had done in the past while hunting.

"Go for some water at the stream. Maybe climb a tree and wait for us or something." I answered, looking up in the trees at the thought.

"If she found a shelter, she would definitely hide in there, though." Rachel added. We continued in silence as we searched. A small campsite appeared up ahead.

"They could be in there." Shane spoke what we were all thinking. If the sun were up, Princess would probably be up and moving around the forest, unless something was stopping her. I doubt she would have stayed in the campsite if she had been there at all.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there." Daryl muttered as he inched closer. Rick raised his hand, telling us to wait as him, Daryl, and Shane inched forward to the tent. Daryl glanced in the tent as best he could without opening it.

"Carol, Rachel." Rick whispered. We all walked forward quietly. "Both of you call out softly. If they're in there, your voice is the first voice she should hear."

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" Carol called out.

"Princess, it's alright, you can come out now." Rachel called out. There was no answer to either woman.

"Sophia, it's Mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's Mommy." Carol continued to call. Rachel and I shared a glance. If Princess had been in there, she would have come out by now. Hell, she would have come out hearing someone call for Sophia. I shook my head at her slightly and she nodded in response. We watched as Daryl crept inside quietly. Shane, and Rick began to cough as they opened the flap. Even from here I could smell the rotting corpse. "Daryl?" Carol called out.

"It ain't them." Daryl told us as he came out.

"What's in there?" Andrea asked.

"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Daryl sassed to Andrea. Rachel and I snorted at the same time. Church bells sounded in the distance. We immediately began running in the direction of the noise. I followed hot on Daryl's heals, Rachel quick on my own.

"What direction?" Shane asked.

"I think that way. I'm pretty sure." I pointed off to the side.

"I think so, too." Rick agreed.

"Damn, it's hard to tell out here." Shane said.

"If we hear them, maybe Sophia and Princess do, too." Carol hoped.

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn thought out loud.

"Or signaling that they found them." Andrea added.

"They could be ringing them themselves." Rachel spit bawled.

"Come on." Rick said as we ran in the direction of the bells. We ran silently until we came to an open area around a church. If she found this place, she would have definitely stayed here, ringing the bells.

"This can't be the place. Ain't got no steeples, no bells." Shane told us. I knew what he was saying was probably true, but I couldn't help but hope. As Rick began to run, my own hope was spurred on. I sprinted after him, staying neck-in-neck with Shane. I glanced over my shoulder to see Rachel running in between Glenn and Daryl. We ran up the front steps, pausing as we waited for Rick and Daryl to open the front doors. The church was empty except for three walkers that sat in the church pews. I walked back down the steps, no longer caring what was in the church as I leaned against a tree. For so long now it had been just my sisters and me. Even before the walkers came. After mom died during childbirth and dad stopped caring, it felt like Rachel and I raised Princess. I had been shot before, beat, and cut with a knife, but nothing hurt as much as losing her did. Bells sounded again from the church. I joined the group as we ran to the side, only to see a megaphone attached to an electrical box making the noise. Glen quickly shut it off.

"A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl told us.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol said quietly. I heaved a large sigh as I went to find a tree to sit under. Rachel followed me.

"What do we do, if we can't find her? The other's will want to move on eventually." Rachel questioned.

"Then we stay. We don't leave until we find her." I snapped at her, hating the train of thought that this conversation was taking.

"What if we find her and she's dead, or been t-turned." Rachel said, her voice thick, sounding near tears. I didn't answer for a minute, trying to think through how I would survive without having a reason to live.

"If she's a walker, we put her down. Then we burry her." I took a deep breath. "And we go where the group goes. We take care of each other." I knew it was a cold thing to say. I would never be able to see it through so easily. But right at the moment my military training kicked in, and I set my emotions aside. It was easier not to feel at the moment.

"Yeah, sure. _That's_ how it would go down." Rachel said sarcastically, calling me on my bluff. I huffed out a humorless laugh. I stood up as the group gathered back together.

"Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back. Okay, Daryl, you're in charge." Shane told us. "Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you." Shane answered.

"I wanna stay too." Carl spoke up. I looked at Rachel, motioning my head toward Shane and Rick, silently asking if she thought I should go too. She shook her head no. "I'm their friend."

"Just be careful, okay?" Lori told Carl. We walked slowly away toward the woods, only having our attention drawn back to Lori and Rick when Rick tried to hand Lori his gun. So much for only people trained to handle guns having them. Daryl gave her a gun instead. Rachel nudged me and pointed to Andrea, who was silently having a hissy fit over it. We both chuckled, counting down to the time when she would blow up. We walked in silence for a short time through the woods after we separated.

"So this is it?" Carol asked, sitting down on a log. "This is the whole plan?" I stopped and leaned against a tree by Glenn, Rachel choosing to lean on me.

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl responded.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea said in a pissed off voice. "I see you have a gun." She directed at Lori.

"Here we go." I muttered under my breath. Glenn, and Rachel chuckled. I could've sworn I even saw Daryl smirking.

"Why, you want it? Here, take it." Lori handed the gun over to Andrea. "I'm sick of the looks you're giving me. All of you." Andrea looked flabbergasted, like she hadn't been the one to initiate the confrontation and Lori was acting completely unreasonable for being pissed. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in you face every time you look at him." Lori told Carol. Damn, this woman was on a role today. "When Sophia and Princess ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently. Anybody?" No one said anything as she looked pointedly at Andrea and Daryl. "Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you." I felt like my mother or aunt was chastising me. Andrea passed the gun back to Lori.

"We should keep moving." Andrea spoke up, basically giving the only apology she would. We all filed in silently as we began the march back to the cars.


	9. Chapter 9

**So here's the next chapter!**

**Thanks for following, favoriting, and reviewing! And most importantly reading I guess...**

**To Kansas: Yes! It is very sad. To me it is one of the saddest parts in the series. I hope she stays around, too! Because I have plans for her.**

* * *

**Princess' POV:**

I woke to the sound of church bells ringing. Was that the group? I quickly put Blade back in my bag and began to scurry down the tree. When I dropped to the next branch, I could see five walkers surrounding the tree. I hesitated, not sure if I could take them on. I waited in the trees; long after the bells had stopped. I heard walking in the distance.

"Hello?" I yelled. I waited for a reply, hoping it wasn't more walkers to add to my five. "Can anybody help me?" I yelled. Just as I was beginning to lose hope, Rick and Shane came barreling out of the brush, stabbing and killing the walkers.

"Princess, you ok?" Carl asked, running out from his hiding spot once the walkers were dead.

"I am now." I told them, slowly beginning my climb down. I felt arms wrap around my middle, making me let out a yelp of surprise as I was placed on the ground by Shane. His face was in a hard mask, not showing me any emotion. "Thanks." I mumbled. I let Blade out of my bag.

"Where's Sophia?" Rick asked me. I shook my head.

"I don't know. We got separated. I assumed she had gone back to the camp. I got turned around." I admitted.

"It's alright, you were scared. It could've happened to anyone. Are you alright to walk?" I nodded at Rick and fell in line beside Carl as we walked.

"What did you do all night?" Carl whispered to me.

"Stayed in the tree. But before that I managed to kill a rabbit." I whispered back. Carl's eyebrows shot up.

"Really?" He asked in a disbelieving voice. I nodded and pulled out the rabbit from my bag. Carl poked at it a little. Branches snapped, causing all of us to stop. I quickly shoved the rabbit back into my bag. Shane stopped Carl and I, quickly moving to stand in front of us. We moved quietly forward, until we saw the source of the noise: a deer. It was a beautiful buck with a twelve-point antler. My mouth watered slightly at the thought of eating him. We stood there, watching it before Shane moved to shoot it. Rick stopped him as Carl walked quietly toward it. I followed slowly, a little ways behind him, standing with-in arms reach of Shane. Carl got up real close to the deer, and it was surprisingly letting him, even once it noticed his presence. Carl got so close to it, he could almost touch it. A gunshot rang out, causing the buck and Carl to fall to the ground. Shane grabbed me and pulled me behind him as Rick ran forward for Carl. I hung onto Shane's belt as we moved forward, Shane raising his gun as he watched for whoever had shot Carl. I knelt down at Carl's head. His eyes were fluttering shut as Rick cried and tried to stop the bleeding.

"It's going to be ok." I told Carl, stroking his hair as I held his gaze. He barely managed a weak nod before he passed out. A fat man suddenly came running into the clearing.

"Oh my God! Did I hit someone? I didn't see any of you guys there." The man stuttered out. Shane charged forward and grabbed the guy by the shirt and unblocking the view of Carl. "Oh my God. We have a doctor." Shane looked at Rick.

"Which way?" Rick asked, scooping up Carl. The man pointed behind him and Rick took off in the direction.

"Princess, come on." Shane motioned for me to grab his belt. I did, running along side him as Shane dragged the fat man, practically demanding him to keep up with our pace. I stumbled a lot, having trouble keeping up myself from lack of food and water. Shane paused, handed me the gun as he picked me up and started dragging the fat guy again. Shane had obviously gone into protector mode, and our previous interactions were forgotten. The only concern we both had was Carl. I could see Rick running ahead of us, Blade running in between us. A wave of exhaustion hit me, causing me to lay my head on Shane's shoulder.

"Thank you." I whispered to him. He didn't respond but kept running. We finally came to an open field. Shane let go of the man in order to hold me better, but he ran behind the guy, prodding him further.

"Hey, you move, shithead. Come on, get I said." Shane yelled. The fat guy had to stop though, panting for breath.

"How far?" Rick yelled at him.

"Half mile that way. Hershel, talk to Hershel. He'll help your boy." The fat guy told us. Shane went back to dragging the man while running. Rick ran ahead with Carl. A white farmhouse came into view. Shane let go of him again as we came to the fence by the property. Rick met us on the porch, Carl no longer in his arms. "He's alive? He's still alive?" Fat man asked. Rick looked really shaken up, and didn't respond. He absent-mindedly wiped his face with his blood-covered hand, causing him to get some blood onto his face. Shane's face was finally showing some fear. He gently set me down and reached into his bag, grabbing a rag to wipe it off.

"You got blood, man." Shane whispered to him. Shane gave him the rag to wipe his hands with. "I'll take it from you. Where is he?" Shane asked quietly. Rick led us inside quietly to the room where a pale Carl lay. I clung with one hand to Shane's belt, uneasy about the new people.

"You know his blood type?" The old man asked us.

"A-positive, same as mine." Rick told him.

"That's fortunate. Don't wander far. I'm gonna need you." The old man told Rick. "What happened?"

"I was tracking a buck." The fat guy began to explain. I noticed a young guy and girl standing beside him. "Bullet went through it. Went clean through." Fatty seemed in just as much shook about Carl being shot as Rick did.

"The deer slowed the bullet down, which certainly saved his life. But it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces. If I can get the bullet fragments out and I'm counting six." The old guys spoke allowed.

"I never saw him, not until he was on the ground." The fat guy explained shakily to the older women.

"Lori doesn't know." Rick spoke allowed to Shane.

"I know." Shane soothed, pulling Rick close to him.

"My wife doesn't know." Rick repeated the phrase a few times. Shane pulled Rick's head close to his as Rick wept.

"You've got to stay with him." Shane murmured. Everyone jumped as Blade began to bark. "Princess shut that thing up before I kill it." I quickly scooped him up in my free hand, shutting him up. I hovered by Shane's side, eyeing the people distrustfully.

"Why is she carrying a shot gun?" The young blonde asked. I looked down at the hand not holding Blade, and realized that I was still carrying Shane's gun.

"Oh." Shane murmured, taking the gun from me.

"How about you guys sit in here, and Beth will make y'all a snack." My ears perked up at the mention of food.

"We're good." Shane told her as we went to sit in the living room. I glanced up at Shane, unsure if I should speak up.

"Maybe something for the girl?" She asked. I nodded quickly in response as I sat on the couch in between Rick and Shane. We stayed quiet as we waited.

"Why'd I let him come with us?" Rick asked Shane. "I should have sent him with Lori."

"You know, you start that, you'll never get that monkey off your back. Besides, if we hadn't of brought Carl, he wouldn't have heard Princess yelling." Shane answered. The women brought me a sandwich, chips and water. I quickly pealed the crust off the sandwich and set it on the floor, setting Blade down to eat it while I began munching on the sandwich.

"Little girls go missing, you look for them. Simple. You said call it, head back." Rick reasoned, still trying to blame himself.

"Doesn't matter what I said. If we had followed my orders, Princess would still be up in that tree.

"Carl got shot because I wouldn't cut bait. It should be me in there." Rick pressed on. Shane let out an unamused laugh.

"You've been there, partner. Right? And you pulled through. So will he." Shane told him.

"Is that why I got out of that hospital? Found my family for it to end here like this? This some kind of sick joke?" Rick sounded on the verge of crying again. I let out a sniffle. Shane shushed Rick.

"You stop it. Just stop." Shane told him. I ate some more chips, dropping a few for Blade. "Quit giving that damn dog your food, Princess. You need it."

"Two little girls go missing…you look for them. It's plain and simple." Rick said. This was my fault. If I had stayed with Sophia and not stopped for the damn rabbit, Carl wouldn't be shot.

"Sorry." I mumbled. Before either of the guys could respond, the door was flung opened by the older girl.

"Rick. He needs blood." She told us. The three of us went into the other room. Carl was crying out and thrashing.

"You, hold him down." The old guy told Shane. I stood at the foot of the bed, watching with wide eyes. Carl cried out for his dad, screaming in pain. I felt tears running down my face and turned away, no longer able to watch as Carl screamed in pain. "Almost there." Carl let out a particularly loud scream. I covered my eyes with my hands as I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Stop you're killing him!" I managed to here Rick yell.

"He needs blood now." Someone said.

"Do it now!" Shane yelled. My hands did nothing to drown out Carl's cries. They suddenly stopped. I peaked open my eyes to see Carl was now lying still.

"He just passed out." The old man told us. He pulled out a piece of the bullet. "One down, five to go." We watched silently as the old man put a bandage over the wound and the old women hooked up Rick to Carl to do a blood transfusion. Shane came and stood next to me at the end of the bed. "Blood pressures stable."

"Lori should be here. She doesn't eve know what's going on. I've got to go find her. Bring her back. The others don't know we found Princess either." Rick told us.

"You can't do that." The old man told Rick.

"She's his mother. She needs to know what's happened. Her son's lying here shot." Rick angrily told him.

"And he's going to need more blood. He can't go more than 50 feet from this bed." The old guy told Shane. Shane walked over to Rick.

"Hey. Hey. Come on." Shane mumbled. I followed behind them as we walked out of the room. I latched onto Shane's belt again as we went into the room with the strangers. "He's stable."

"Lori has to be here Shane, she has to know." Rick told us.

"Okay, I get that. I'm gonna handle it. But you've got to handle your end." Shane told him in a level voice.

"My-my end?" Rick asked in confusion.

"Your end is being here for your son. Even if he didn't need your blood to survive, there is no way I'd ever let you walk out that door. Man, I'd break your legs if you tried. You know that, right? If something happened to him and you weren't here…if-if he slipped away while you were gone, you would never forgive yourself for that. And neither would Lori, man." Shane told him. Rick struggled to hold in his tears.

"You're right." Rick responded after a while.

"When was I ever wrong?" Shane joked. "You know, when you were in that hospital, the one you were never supposed to leave, man, you should have seen Lori. She was like…the strength of that woman…you can't imagine it. See that's what you've got to have now. I mean, Carl, he needs that from you. So you wire yourself tight, my friend. You hear? You've got the hard part. Just leave the rest to me, okay?"

"All right." Rick agreed. The old man opened the door to talk to us.

"He's out of danger for the moment. But I need to remove those remaining fragments." He told us.

"How? You saw how he was." Rick countered.

"I know, and that was the shallowest one. I need to go deeper to get the others." The old guy paused in his news. "There's more. His belly's distended, his pressure is dropping, which means there's internal bleeding. A fragment must have nicked one of the blood vessels. I have to open him up, find the bleeder and stitch it. And he can't move while I'm in there, I mean at all. If he reacts the same as before, I'll sever an artery and he'll be dead in minutes. To even try this, I have to put him under. But if I do, he won't be able to breathe on his own. Same bad results." So, he's gonna die?

"What'll it take?" Rick asked him, keeping it together better than he had before.

"You need a respirator. What else?" Fat man asked. Maybe I should learn his name. It felt kinda rude to just call him fat man…

"The tube that goes with it, extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures." Old guy listed things that I didn't even know what they were. I should probably figure out his name too.

"If you had all that you could save him?" Rick clarified.

"If I had all that, I could try." The older man clarified, not wanting to get our hopes up.

"Nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago." Fat man told us with his thinking face. "The high school."

"That's what I was thinking. They set up a FEMA shelter there. They would have everything we need." Old man explained.

"Place was overrun last time I saw it. You couldn't get near it. Maybe it's better now." Fat guy told us. There was a short pause of silence.

"I said leave the rest to me. Is it too late to take that back?" Shane joked.

"I hate you going alone." Rick told him.

"I'll go." I volunteered. "Carl's my friend. And I can shoot a gun." Rick smiled at me softly.

"I have no doubt about that, considering how much your brother has been bragging about you. But we just found you, got you out of harms way. We aren't going to put you back." Shane ruffled my already messed up braid. "Besides, you going to try and tell me your legs one hundred percent better?" I glanced down at my leg that still had some swollen bumps. Now that he mentioned it, it was hurting a little. I shook my head. I didn't realize anyone but my sibling remembered my allergic reaction. "Doc, why don't you do me a list and draw me a map?"

"You won't need a map. I'll take you there. Ain't but five miles." Fat man told everyone.

"Otis, no." The fat man's wife exclaimed. Oh, so his name was Otis.

"Honey, we don't have time for guesswork and I'm responsible. I ain't gonna sit here while this fella takes this on alone. I'll be all right." Otis said.

"Are you sure about this?" Shane asked him.

"You even know what any of this stuff he's talking about looks like?" Otis asked him.

"Come to think of it, no." Shane chuckled.

"I've been a volunteer EMT. I do. We can talk about this till next Sunday or we could just go do it right quick." Otis bargained. Despite shooting my friend, I guess he wasn't a bad guy.

"I'll take right quick." Shane told him.

"I should thank you." Rick told Otis.

"Wait till that boy of yours is up and around. Then we'll talk. I'll gather some things." Otis walked over.

"Where is she, your wife?" The brown headed girl with short hair asked Rick.

"They were following the river back to the highway to meet up with the rest of our group." Rick answered. The girl nodded.

"I'll go ride and get her, tell the others where you are." The girl walked out of the house without another word. Otis came back with a pack and we followed them out to a blue truck.

"Just get what you need and get out of there." Rick told Shane. "You stay strong all right?" Shane and Rick hugged briefly. Shane ruffled my hair again.

"Does this mean we're friends now?" I asked. Shane chuckled at me.

"Yeah, sure kid. Why not?" I smiled up at Shane as he climbed into the truck. We stared off after the truck for a short time.

"Let's check on your boy." The Doctor broke the silence. I yanked gently on Rick's shirt.

"Can I have another sandwich?" I asked quietly. Doc chuckled at me.

"I'll do you one better, you can get yourself a sandwich, a bath, and clean clothes, too." I glanced down at my clothes, noticing that I had walker blood and dirt caked on me.

"Do you got some place I can put my rabbit until my brother get's here to help me skin it?" I asked. Rick and Hershel smiled at me as I pulled the rabbit out. "What?"

* * *

**Marcus' POV:**

"You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked Lori. I wasn't voicing it, neither was Rachel, but both of us were worrying, too.

"It was a gunshot." Lori said with a tight voice.

"We all heard it." Daryl responded.

"Why one? Why just one gunshot?" Lori asked us.

"Maybe they took down a walker." Daryl tried to sooth her. Daryl and I shared a look, knowing that that probably wasn't the case.

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly." Lori snapped.

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asked. Were they trying to convince to go and search for them now?

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway." I spoke up, looking around the woods.

"The Seals right." I smirked at the name. "Can't run around these woods chasing echoes." Daryl agreed with me.

"So what do we do?" Lori asked.

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia and the Runt, work our way back to the highway." Daryl answered her.

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV." Andrea spoke up. Lori begrudgingly started walking forward again. Rachel grabbed my sleeve to slow me when she saw Andrea and Carol not moving. "I'm sorry for what you're going through. I know how you feel."

"I suppose you do. Thank you. The thought of her out here by herself…" Carol said, her voice choking off. Rachel's grip tightened on my shirt. I breathed deeply as I looked around the forest, trying to take my mind off her words. "It's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy." Ouch. Harsh. Carol quickly realized her mistake and backtracked. "Oh, God. That was the worst thing I ever said." I could visibly see Andrea swallowing a sarcastic and mean remark.

"We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth." Andrea sent her a forced smile.

"I'll tell you what it's worth…not a damn thing. It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying. 'Cause we're gonna locate both those little girls, and their gonna be just fine. Am I the only one zen around here? Good Lord." Daryl turned back to leading us. It was more of a relief than I thought to see Rachel chuckling. Making my sisters laugh had always been my favorite thing to do. It doesn't matter how my day has been. If I can get one of them laughing, then my day was made. It was easiest to get Princess laughing. Once she had started, Rachel would be soon to follow. I didn't care if I had to make myself look like a fool in order to get them to laugh, I'd do it. We walked on in silence, looking each way for the girls. We paused for a short breather as the sun started to set.

"We'll lose the light before too long. I think we should call it." Daryl told us. My throat tightened, but I remained silent.

"Let's head back." Lori agreed.

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asked.

"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." Lori answered. Somehow when she said that, it made it feel as though we would never find her. Daryl whistled for us to start moving again. We'd only been walking for a short while, but we weren't far from the road. "How much farther?"

"Not much." I grumbled, keeping my gun up in case I had to use it.

"Maybe 100 yards as the crow flies." Daryl finished for me.

"Too bad we're not crows." Andrea grumbled. I smirked; this wasn't even that hot of a day. She'd die in the Mississippi heat and humidity. Andrea wandered off to the side a little, grumbling as she went. That's when she started screaming.

"Andrea?" Lori called. We ran off in the direction of her screams. We could see them in the distance now, a walker attacking her, but it was just one and there was enough time to run to her. No use in wasting a bullet or making noise. Out of nowhere a girl came riding in on a horse with a bat, hitting the walker over the head with said weapon.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" The girl asked. How the hell did she know Lori's name?

"I'm Lori." Lori told her.

"Rick sent me. You got to come now." She told her, rushing.

"What?" Was this chick insane? Why the hell would we let Lori go with her?

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you've got to come now. Rick needs you. Just come." The girl told us. Oh, shit. The gun shot from earlier. Lori took off her pack.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't know this girl." Daryl protested. "You can't get on that horse."

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" The girl said, talking to Glenn. The guy looked a little horror struck. "Backtrack to Fairburn Road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name's Greene." The girl took off without another word, Lori clinging to her. We stayed silent for a few seconds. The groaning of the walker starting to get up again broke the silence.

"Shut up." Daryl snapped, shooting it in the head before stomping off. We hurried behind him to the road.

"Where are the others?" Dale asked as soon as we came into view.

"Carl was shot." Rachel informed him.

"Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale asked, starting to panic.

"I don't know, Dale. I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori." Glenn told him.

"You let her?" Dale looked at Daryl and I.

"Climb down out of my ass, old man. Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's." Daryl snapped.

"I heard screams. Was that you?" Dale asked Andrea. She ignored the poor guy and marched on passed him.

"She got attacked by a walker. It was a close call." Rachel told Dale as we both went to lean against the RV.

"Andrea, are you all right?" She didn't answer, but sent him a death glare as she slammed the door to the RV. Bitch needs to calm down.

"Should we start loading up, go to that ladies house?" Glenn asked then. My head shot up to look at the others. Was that really what they were deciding?

"What about Princess? A-and Sophia?" Rachel asked.

"I won't do it. We can't just leave." Carol added. Andrea climbed back out of the RV, listening to the conversation.

"Carol, the group is split. We're scattered and weak." Dale reasoned to her.

"What if they come back and we're not here?" Rachel asked, her voice starting to break. "It could happen."

"If the girls found their way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea spoke up.

"Okay. We got to plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV." Daryl concluded.

"If the RV is staying, I am too." Dale told him.

"Thank you. Thank you both." Carol told Daryl and Dale. I nodded at Daryl, who nodded back.

"I'm in." Andrea volunteered.

"I'm staying." I spoke up, leaning against the RV.

"Well, if you're all staying then I'm –" Glenn started to say, but Dale cut him off.

"Not you, Glenn. You're going. Take Carol's Cherokee." Dale told him.

"Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn complained.

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with out people and see what's going on. But most important, you have to get T-dog there. This is not an option. That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-dog will die, no joke." Dale told him.

"I'll go too." Rachel piped up.

"Why can't she just drive then?" Glenn asked.

"Well I haven't gotten my license yet and last time I drove I put Marcus' car in a ditch, but sure, where the keys?" Rachel said sarcastically as she held out her hand. I snorted at the memory.

"Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle." Daryl said as he threw the rag at Dale. "Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brother's stash." Daryl said as he sorted through a bag of medicine. "Crystal, X. Don't need that." Daryl talked to himself. "Got some kick ass painkillers." Daryl tossed them to Glenn. "Oxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion." Rachel and I laughed. Who knew that someone having an STD would work out in our favor?


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews! You guys are awesome!**

**Sorry for the late update. I have been on vacation and actually having to talk to people instead of writing (*groans*)**

**Thanks to Kansas for the idea of getting to know Rachel more! This chapter is dedicated to you!**

**As always, thanks to BreenaBelle-xoxo for her constant support, advice, and getting my butt into gear! Check out her stories! They're awesome!**

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"Princess, where did you get all these scars from?" Beth asked me as she searched for me some clothes to change into.

"From hunting and playing in the woods." I replied through a mouth full of PB&amp;J. I pointed to a long cut on my side. "That's from playing with Marcus' hunting knife." My hair was still dripping wet from my extremely long bath. I used the towel to dry off Blade, who's fur was finally white again. He licked my fingers that were covered in jelly.

"Your parents let you hunt?" Beth asked curiously as she threw a large t-shirt and a pair of mesh shorts at me.

"Sure. Why wouldn't they? I only got hurt when I didn't know how to do the stuff." I yanked the clothes on before grabbing my sandwich and running down the stairs. I could hear Beth and Blade following me. I walked into the side room to go and see Carl, who was looking just as pale as before. Rick looked pale too as he ate his own sandwich. I was surprised to see Lori there.

"Princess! They found you." Lori said. Her eyes were red from crying, her face still wet, and the smile she sent me was a sad forced smile.

"Carl found me." There was a pregnant pause. "Is Shane back yet?" Rick shook his head.

"Don't you have something you have to put on your bites?" Rick asked, gesturing to my leg. I nodded in response. "Better go put it on there then. I'm guessing you haven't put any on since yesterday morning." I nodded again before running to the living room. I stuffed the last bite of my sandwich in my mouth as I dug through my satchel.

"Come on, let's go tame that mess of hair." Maggie said, taking my hand as we sat down on the couch.

* * *

**Rachel's POV:**

"I didn't think you would voluntarily leave your brother's side." T-dog spoke up from the front seat as Glenn drove us to the farm.

"I don't like being away from him, especially with Princess missing. But we need you guys, and Marcus wont decide to split up from y'all while looking for Princess if I'm with you here. If I had stayed, by the morning, you wouldn't have been able to get him to leave there until he found her." I stared out the window as I the dark country landscape flew by.

"You talk like Dale. How old are you anyways?" Glenn chuckled.

"I'm 16." T-dog whistled in surprise. "Princess told me I was born with the soul of a grandma." T-dog and Glenn chuckled.

"You three seem close." It wasn't a question, just an observation. I chose not to answer. It was well known that Princess was Marcus' favorite. She had him wrapped around her little finger. It didn't bother me; she was my favorite as well. I just didn't let her get away with things like he did. And just because Marcus and I weren't each other's favorite sibling didn't mean that we weren't thick as thieves. It has always been the two of us against the world. Marcus is only three years older than me, so we hardly remember doing anything without the other. I would think up the plans, and Marcus would execute them for us, whether it was hunting or stealing a cookie after dinner. When Princess was born, our mother didn't survive the delivery. Our father became distant and unemotional toward us. Marcus and I have always been the one to provide Princess with love and support. In a sense, we were her parents. We taught her everything she knew. I've always thought of her as more than a sister, like there was a faint hint of a maternal bond there.

"We're here." Glenn's voice brought me from my thoughts. I looked out of the car as we drove up to the front of the house. We slowed to a stop. Glenn cut off the lights as we all got out of the car. The three of us walked quietly to the porch steps, noticing the drops of blood on the front. "So do we ring the bell? I mean, it looks like people live here." Glenn looked at T-dog and I uncertainly.

"We're past this kind of stuff, aren't we? Having to be considerate?" T-dog grumbled out as we climbed the steps.

"If it is, somebody shoot me." I mumbled. Our attention was drawn by the rocking chair creaking.

"Did you close the gate up the road when you drove in?" The girl who road in on the horse asked us.

"Uh, hi." Glenn mumbled. Was it me or was he starting to get flustered. "Yes, we closed it. Did the latch and everything." Aww, look how shy he was being. T-dog and I shared a look. T-dog looked like hell still and he was completely unamused by Glenn. I smiled wider, but he just rolled his eyes. "Hello. Nice to see you again. We met before, briefly." T-dog cut off Glenn's rambling.

"Look, we came to help. There anything we can do?" T-dog groaned as the girl stepped toward us. She eyed T-dogs hurt arm wearily.

"It's not a bite." I told her. She glanced at me, like she was trying to decide if she believed me or not.

"I cut myself pretty bad though." He admitted. The girl nodded at us.

"We'll have it looked at. I'll tell them you're here." She walked toward the door, pausing as Glenn talked to her.

"We have some painkillers and antibiotics. I already gave him some. If Carl needs any." Glenn held out the bottles to her.

"Come on inside. I'll make you something to eat." She told us. She opened the door, allowing us to follow her inside. I froze in the doorway. Sitting on the couch in the living room was Princess and her dumb dog. She was wearing clean clothes that were too big for her, she looked recently bathed, her hair braided and wrapped around her head. She had just taken a large bite of a sandwich when she saw us. She jumped up and ran over, jumping into my arms. Blade ran to my ankles, yipping and biting at them.

"How are you here?" I asked, holding her to me tight as I tried not to cry. "I thought you had died."

"Imm mmmfffoo uughhm." Princess said through a mouthful of sandwich. Glenn laughed next to me.

"That's disgusting. Just cause the world ended doesn't mean that you get to be gross." I scolded as I kicked Blade away from me. Princess opened her mouth and showed me her chewed up sandwich. "Yep, it's official. You spend too much time with Marcus." Princess closed her mouth, swallowing, before laughing. I set her on the ground, but still held her close to me.

"Where's Carl?" T-dog asked. Princess' face fell, she glanced at the other girl, before they led us to a side room. Carl lay in the bed, deathly pale as his parents sat at his side. I clutched Princess to me tightly, remembering that it could have easily been hers. He was dying, and it was easy to see and feel with the depressing attitude. I glanced at T-dog and Glenn. Glenn took off his hat as he scratched his head.

"Hey." Glenn spoke up. Carl already looked like a corpse. There wasn't an ounce of color in his skin.

"Hey." Rick grumbled back. He was looking a little pale himself. We stayed quiet for a minute as we watched the old guy finish checking Carl's blood pressure.

"Um, we're here, okay?" Glenn said uncertainly.

"Thank you." Lori said quietly.

"Whatever you need." T-dog told them. Rick nodded as we turned and wondered out slowly.

"My names Maggie by the way." The brown-headed girl told us. We nodded in response, all of us now sad from seeing Carl so close to death. Princess quietly began eating her sandwich again.

"Seriously, you're still eating?" Glenn asked her. Princess glared at him as she quickly chewed her food.

"I eat when I'm upset." She snapped before aggressively taking another bite of her sandwich.

"You eat a lot with every strong emotion you feel." I mumbled. Princess glared at me in response as Glenn and T-dog chuckled softly. She aggressively ripped off the crust from her sandwich and threw it on the ground for Blade. An older woman came into the room.

"My name's Patricia. Maggie tells me that one of you is hurt." She said kindly. T-dog lifted his arm. "Come sit at the dinning room table and I'll take a look at it." Rachel and I followed T-dog over to the table and watched as Patricia removed the bandage. T-dogs wound was wide open and you could see the infection.

"Sick." Princess smiled, watching in fascination as Patricia began cleaning it. Glenn coughed behind me.

"That's disgusting." He looked like he was holding down puke.

"It's starting to smell too." I commented. T-dog glared at me as he winced.

"If you think it's disgusting, then why are staring at it like it's not bothering you?" Glenn asked, pointedly looking away from the infected wound.

"Marcus really liked to play gut explosion." Glenn looked at me in confusion. "Which is exactly what it sounds like. When Marcus was cleaning his game, he would yell "GUT EXPLOSION!" and then throw the contents of the games stomach on me." Glenn looked at me grossed out as Princess laughed.

"I forgot he did that! It was always really funny. You're reactions would range from screaming so hard you're face got red to throwing up." Princess giggled as Glenn threw his baseball cap on Princess' hair, walking out of the room. We watched in silence as Patricia finished up and began sowing up the wound.

"You got here right in time. This couldn't go untreated much longer." I patted T-dog's shoulder as he cringed while they stitched him. Princess watched with rapt attention. "Merle Dixon. Is that your friend with the antibiotics?" Patricia asked.

"No, ma'am. Merle's no longer with us. Daryl gave us those, his brother." Glenn explained.

"Not sure I'd call him a friend." T-dog winced as Patricia continued to stich him up.

"He is today. This doxycycline might have just saved your life. You know what Merle was taking it for?" Patricia asked.

"The clap." Glenn answered. Patricia, Maggie, and Princess turned to look at him. "Um, venereal disease. That's what Daryl said."

"I'd say Merle Dixon's clap was the best thing to ever happen to you." I chuckled at Patricia.

"I'm really trying not to think about that." T-dog winced out. Glenn quickly walked out the room.

"What's a venereal disease?" Princess asked, turning to me. I just remembered that we haven't given Princess the talk yet…I might need to get on that.

"Iiiiiit's when you eat to much venison. When you do, it makes your farts sound like their clapping." I told her. Everyone turned to stare at me. Princess scrunched up her face in thought.

"There we go. All done." Patricia said as she tied off the string. "Y'all go wait in the living room and I will get food you some food." I helped T-dog walk into the living room. We plopped on the couch, Princess climbing in my lap. I thanked Patricia as she brought us food and munched quietly. Blade snored quietly at my feet. Of course the dumb dog snores. The sound of a truck caused Princess to jump from my lap.

"It's Shane and Otis!" She yelled, running toward the door. We followed her to the door. Who the hell was Otis? Shane came limping out of the truck, but he was by himself. T-dog, Princess, and I watched as Shane passed off bags to Glenn.

"No one tell Patricia. Not until after we are finished with Carl." The old guy told us.

"Come on, T-dog, you should sit down." I said quietly, taking Princess' hand as I we went and sat in the rocking chair. Princess climbed into my lap while we waited with the others for Carl's surgery to end.

"Sing me a song." Princess whispered to me. I quietly began to hum our favorite tune, rocking us back and forth. Princess was asleep within seconds. The old man, who I learned was Hershel, came out. Everyone stood up but me.

"He seems to have stabilized." Hershel told us. Rick came forward and gave Hershel a hug.

"I don't have words." Lori said as she cried happy tears. Hershel's face began to fall.

"I don't either. Wish I did. How do I tell Patricia about Otis?" Hershel said solemnly.

"You go to Carl. I'll go with Hershel." Rick told us. I scooped up Princess in my arms. Oh God this child was getting heavy. I struggled as I walked inside to one of the couches in the living room.

"Need help?" Glenn asked as he watched me flop down on the couch, lying against it with Princess on my chest. Blade hopped up on my feet.

"Like five minutes ago." I huffed. I looked down at Princess' head. I picked up Glenn's hat from her head and threw it at him. "Don't wake me until morning." I mumbled, closing my eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry this took so long! I have been on vacation with my family and anytime I tried to sit down and write, they would practically murder me. I am no longer on vacation, so there should be updates more often!**

**Thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! You guys are amazing! **

**Be sure to check out BreenaBelle-xoxo's WD stories! They are amazing and her constant support is what helps keep me motivated for this story! **

**Let me know what you think and what all you want to see for the next chapter or even in the future seasons!**

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**Princess' POV:**

"Do you think that we'll find her?" Carl asked me from where I sat next to him on the bed. His color was slowly returning, but he was still stuck in a bed.

"I know we'll find her. The real question is in what condition are we going to find her." I said glumly. There were a few minutes of silence as Carl petted Blade.

"I bet she's stuck up a tree like you and she's just waiting for me or you to find her." Carl said, trying to cheer me up. I gave him a halfhearted smile. "When I can walk again, will you show me how you killed that squirrel?" I chuckled and laughed, causing Carl to give me a smile. "My father told me that they had found her already." Carl said. He didn't sound too upset or angry. Just like he was stating a fact.

"He probably didn't want to upset you or worry you while you rested. Wanted to make sure you were healthy again and could take it. It's only cause he loves you. It's something Marcus and Rachel would do for me, too." I said. "But I hate it went people sugar coat shit to me. I'd rather they give it to me straight. I may be young, but I haven't been a weak, little baby in a long time. People lying just pisses me off."

"Yeah. Me too. I promise I wont ever sugar coat the truth to you if you promise not to do it to me. And we got to tell each other if we know someone else has done it to the other." Carl stuck out his hand. I nodded and grabbed a hold of his pinky. There was a short pause. "Do your siblings let you cus?" Carl asked. I laughed and shook my head.

"They don't, but that doesn't mean Marcus watches his own mouth around me. He was in the navy after all." Carl and I both laughed quietly.

"Alright, Princess. Time to let Carl rest." Hershel said. I nodded, waving goodbye to Carl as Blade curled up next to him to sleep. I jogged outside to Rachel as her, Glenn, Maggie, Lori, Andrea, T-dog, and Shane walked out toward the water spigot. We walked up to the well and looked inside. There was a fat walker that looked like it was decomposing in the water. Rachel pulled me back a little when I leaned over the edge.

"Looks like we've got a swimmer." Dale said as he shined a flash light down on it.

"How long do you think it's been down there?" Glenn asked from where I stood next to him.

"Long enough to grow gills." Andrea commented. Can we even drink this water anymore? I don't think I would want to drink this water even if it were just a human standing in it.

"We can't leave it in there. God knows what it's doing to the water." Lori commented.

"We got to get it out." Shane commented. How do we do that? I glanced at Rachel who was on my other side, but she was looking at T-dog out of the corner of her eye, her cheeks blushing slightly.

"Easy. Put a bullet in its head. I'll get a rope." T-dog answered. I nudged Rachel, quirking an eyebrow once she finally looked at me. She just blushed a little more in response.

"Whoa, whoa, guys. No." Maggie said, causing all of us to look at her in confusion.

"Why not? It's a good plan." Glenn asked.

"It's a stupid plan." Andrea snapped. Jeez, what crawled up her butt and died? "If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job."

"She's right. Can't risk it." Shane commented, looking down at the walker as we continued to brainstorm.

"So it has to come out alive?" T-dog asked. This situation reminded me of when some livestock fell into a well.

"So to speak." Shane answered.

"How do we do that?" Glenn asked. Everyone stayed quiet for a minute.

"What if we loop the rope around it and then pull it up." I commented. Everyone turned to me in surprise. I looked to Rachel. "Like we did when Uncle Grady's donkey fell down into the well on his farm."

"Problem with that is that someone would have to go down to loop the rope around the walker." Rachel said.

"So we send someone down on a rope that the rest of us can easily pull up." T-dog reasoned.

"That would be Glenn, Maggie, Rachel, or Princess." Shane said while giving Glenn a pointed look.

"I'll do it, but wont it go straight for me once it see's me?" Glenn asked, looking at everyone.

"We could distract it while he goes down." I said.

"With what?" Andrea asked. You know how people have a resting bitch face? Well I'm pretty sure Andrea had a resting bitch voice. Her voice just always sounded bitchy and pissed off.

"Meat." Dale said, sending Maggie a pointed look.

"I'll go check the fridge, see what we can spare." Maggie answered, running off toward the house. A few seconds later she was back with a huge chunk of ham, the squirrel I had killed, and a fishing rod. "Figured we could lower the meat with this." Shane quickly began to tie the ham and squirrel to the fishing line.

"Princess, you ever been fishin'?" Shane asked me. I nodded enthusiastically. "What about fishing for walkers?"

"Not yet, but I bet it's easier than fishing for fish." I smirked. Shane chuckled at me as he passed over the fishing rod.

"Alright, lower it slowly." I did as he said, but the walker seemed to ignore it, barely even glanced at it.

"He's not going for it." Dale said from my left. Shane pulled the rope back up from my other side.

"Maybe 'casue a canned ham don't kick and scream when you try to eat it." T-dog said lowly.

"He's right. There's a reason the dead didn't come back to life and start raiding our cupboards." Lori spoke up as I pulled the meat back out.

"We need live bait." Andrea spoke up. We all turned to look at Glenn. Glenn sighed and nodded his hand. He took off his baseball cap, throwing it on my head. He sat on the edge of the well as Shane tied the rope around him.

"Have I mentioned that I really like your new haircut? You have a nice shaped head." Glenn rambled nervously. I passed Glenn the flashlight.

"Don't worry about it, bud. We're gonna get you out of here in one piece." Shane assured him as everyone grabbed a piece of the rope that Glenn was tied to.

"Living piece. The living part is important." Glenn told him. Shane handed Glenn the looped end of the rope that was going to go around the walker, and the other end to me. "Nice and slow, please."

"Oh, you people are crazy." Maggie muttered from where she stood off to a short distance.

"You want to get it out of your well or not?" Shane asked her. "Princess you hold onto that end of the rope and make sure it doesn't fall into the well."

"Give us an eye there, Maggie." Dale asked. Maggie joined my side as we both watched Glenn, me slowly feeding the walker rope down as he went.

"Doing okay?" Maggie asked worriedly. Glenn sent us a kind of crazy looking smile.

"Yup, doing great." He responded cheerfully. He was totally scared and trying to impress Maggie. "Living the dream." He muttered quietly.

"Little lower. Little more." Maggie told them. Glenn was almost there when the water spigot broke, causing his rope to drop down quite a bit. Maggie rushed over to grab the rope as everyone screamed in panic. I stayed rooted where I was, holding the walker rope as I watched Glenn drop even further as the spigot broke completely off.

"Get me out of here!" Glenn screamed. T-dog was the main person holding onto the rope as everyone else clamored around him to help pull it. "Get off! Get me out!" They finally managed to grab onto the rope and begin pulling him up. As soon as Glenn reached the top I grabbed his arm, along with a few others and helped pull him out of the well. We all stood around panting as we check to see if Glenn was ok.

"Back to the drawing board." Dale said solemnly. Glenn stood up slowly, still panting.

"Says you. Princess, you still got your end of the walker rope?" I nodded and handed the rope to Glenn, who passed it onto Dale. The rest rushed forward to see that Glenn had managed to loop the walker as planned. Glenn gave me a high five as he continued to pant. "Teamwork." He said out of breath. I giggled. After a quick breather, we all grabbed onto the rope and began to start pulling up the walker.

"Come one, guys, pull." T-dog encouraged. We seemed to have a lot more trouble pulling up the walker than Glenn, despite the fact that we had a horse to help us pull it up. It was probably because the walker was so fat. T-dog and I stayed at the well as we watched it get pulled over. Once it finally got to the top, T-dog and I stepped back, coughing at the smell of the walkers decaying body. The smell was so bad it caused me to gag. The walker was almost all the way out as it snarled and reached for T-dog and I, but the belt seemed to get stuck on the side of the well.

"It's stuck!" I yelled out. They began pulling harder. I took a step toward it to try and make it where the walker wasn't caught, but the walker tore into two pieces. The top half got dragged by the horse and the bottom fell back into the well. The top half continued to try and come toward us, but it just grabbed at thin air. We stared at the walker with disdain.

"We should seal off this well." Dale spoke up as we all continued to glare at the walker.

"Yeah, might be a good idea." Shane conceited as he scratched his head.

"So what do we do about…" Andrea trailed off as T-dog beat in the walker's skull with a crow bar.

"Good thing we didn't do anything stupid like shoot it." T-dog sassed. Rachel and I chuckled as Glenn snatched his baseball cap back from my head.

**Marcus' POV:**

Daryl and I walked quietly as we followed the trail. We had been searching for hours, and there were no trace of Sophia. Daryl and I hadn't talked yet, aside from yelling out Sophia's name every now and then. We just motioned and followed the other around as we looked. We didn't really need to talk. We were both trained hunters and could tell what the other was signaling.

"Why'd you come with? Your sister's already been found." Daryl asked as we paused for a drink of water, finally breaking the few hours of silence.

"Princess asked me to." I shrugged, like that would explain everything. Daryl gave me a look that seemed to be studying me.

"You always do what your little sisters tell you to?" He asked. I thought it over as I stuffed the water back into my pocket.

"Yeah, actually. I usually do." I confessed. Daryl snorted as we started walking. There were a few more beats of silence. "She blames herself for Sophia getting lost. So if we find her, then she has nothing to beat herself up over anymore." I explained. Daryl didn't say anything else as we continued in our search. We came upon a clearing with an old house in it. Daryl and I drew our weapons out as we crept forward. We slowly and quietly check each room. They were all empty. Daryl looked in a garbage can to see a freshly opened can of sardines. He slowly checked the cupboard. There was a pallet in the bottom of it. We walked out the back door.

"Sophia!" Daryl called out. We looked around the back, but there was nothing there. Daryl paused at the sight of a white flower. "Cherokee rose." Daryl muttered.

"I call it a dogwood." I muttered. Daryl looked at me like I was the stupidest person in the world.

"This aint no dogwood." He grumbled out as he picked the flower from the stem and carefully placed it in his pocket.

"I know that. I said I _call_ it a dogwood. Not that it was one." Daryl rolled his eyes at me. "What's with the flower in your pocket? Aren't we a little old to be going to prom together?" Daryl rolled his eyes at me before moving back into the forest. I chuckled softly.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry it took so long for me to update! The Chapter is a little longer than normal to make up for it.**

**Thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! You guys are awesome!**

**You guys need to check out BreenaBelle-xoxo's WD stories. They are the bomb! Also, a special thank you to her for helping me out on some decisions for the Chapter.**

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**Princess' POV:**

I walked around the edge of our camp on Hershel's farm, bored out of my mind. Movement at my feet made my eyes focus. Two black snakes were curled up under the leaves and twigs. I could tell by the scales that they weren't venomous. After locating their heads, I reached out with both hands and grabbed them right at the back of their skulls so they couldn't bite me. Both snakes hissed angrily at me. I walked back to where everyone was gathering their things before they went to look for Sophia. I walked straight over to Marcus, holding one of the snakes up high. He smiled mischievously, already catching onto my line of thought. He grabbed one of the snakes and we both ran over to Rachel who sat at the morning campfire in between T-dog and Glenn.

"Hey, Rach! Look what I found." I held the snake up to eye level as she turned around. She let out a small yell, jumping off the ground as the snake hissed in her face.

"Something wrong, Rach?" Marcus asked from behind her, holding up the other snake as she turned around. She screamed again, jumping away from it. Marcus and I laughed loudly, a few of the others in the group joining in as well. Rachel punched Marcus in the arm, which only caused him to laugh louder.

"You're such an idiot." She grumbled, shoving her glasses back up her nose before sitting back down in her place. I took a seat next to Glenn, looking at the snake I had caught with fascination.

"What're you gonna do with it now?" Glenn asked. I looked at it skeptically. It was very thick, but still probably had some meat on it.

"I'm going to eat it." I declared. Glenn looked at me skeptically. Marcus plopped down on my other side.

"Firs' you gotta kill it." Daryl told me. "An' the only real way ta kill a snake is by bitten it's head off." I look to Marcus, who seemed on the verge of laughing again.

"It's true. I'll teach you how to skin it, but first you have to make sure the head is closed all the way. Then you chomp down on it and pull the snake till you brake the bone and rip off its head." Marcus told me.

"Don't bite off the head, Princess." Rachel told me. I eyed the snake, trying to decide what I was going to do. "Marcus, now she's gonna actually do it because you told her to." She's right. I slammed the snake's head shut before biting down on it and pulling on its neck till it came loose. A few bits of blood sprayed on my face. There were groans around the group but I could hear Marcus and Daryl chuckling.

"Oh my God. I can't believe you actually did that." Marcus laughed. I shrugged before gesturing for him to do the same. "Are you crazy? I'm not biting off the head of the snake." I spit the snake's head into the fire.

"Wus." I mumbled, spitting some of the snake's blood out of my mouth. Marcus looked at me with surprised eyes. Glenn made an 'ohhhh' sound from next to me. Marcus quickly copied me, biting off the head and spitting it into the fire.

"That's it. I'm petitioning for new siblings." Rachel grumbled. An evil and hilarious idea formed in my head.

"What's wrong with snakes?" I held up the decapitated body as it continued to wiggle around despite it no longer being alive. "Does it have to do how they still move after they are dead?" Rachel squealed and ran off to help Carol with the laundry. Marcus and I high fived.

"Alright, do you have your hunting knife?" Marcus asked, pulling out his. I nodded, pulling out my own knife. "Ok, it's a lot like gutting trout. Remember how to do that?" I nodded. "Good, so just cut down the skin like so." Marcus began cutting down the middle of the snakes belly, causing the guts to start falling out. Glenn and T-dog groaned from behind me. I copied his actions on my own snake. "Alright, now we tear the scales off." Marcus began tearing off the scales and I followed suit. T-dog and Andrea moved to a different part of the camp. "And now, we cut off this tail part, and run our fingers through the middle to make the guts fall out."

"Alright, that's where I leave." Glenn said, putting his hat on my head backward as he left. I mimicked my brother as we ripped the guts out. We quickly threw them in the fire to try and make it not smell.

"Now, we just gotta cook this part." Marcus told me, holding up his own skinned snake that still wiggled around.

"Or you could eat it raw." Daryl told us. I looked at the meat for a second, questioning what it would taste like. As I brought it up to my mouth to take a bite, Marcus stopped me.

"No. Don't eat it raw unless you have to. It's too easy to get sick from it." He told me, wearing his serious face that meant I better mind him or risk getting' switched. I nodded, helping my brother attach it to a stick so we could cook it.

"Morning guys. Let's get going. We got a lot of ground to cover." Rick told us as he walked by. We got up, following him to the truck. Daryl threw a rag at us so we could wipe off our slimy and bloody hands. "All right, everyone's getting new search grids today. If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far."

"I'ld like to help." Jimmy spoke up as he watched us plan everything out. "I know the area pretty well and stuff." I watched Daryl as he put on a long sleeve shirt. My brow scrunched in confusion.

"Hershel's okay with this?" Rick asked the guy. Daryl caught me looking at him funny.

"Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you." Jimmy told us. Daryl kept cutting his eyes over to me as I still eyed him.

"Spit it out, Runt." Daryl asked, causing Marcus, Rachel, and T-dog's attention to turn to us.

"I'm just surprised is all. I didn't know you owned a shirt with sleeves." I admitted. Marcus, Rachel, and T-dog snorted in laughter. Daryl squinted his eyes at me. He gave my shoulder a small tap, causing me to bump into Marcus.

"Shut up." He grumbled, giving me a small smile. I returned a smile in full force. Marcus picked me up and sat me on the hood of the car so I could see better.

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me. Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse." Shane told us.

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea argued. That was just about the only thing that has every came out of her mouth that I agreed with.

"Whoever slep' in that cupboard couldn'ta been bigger than Runt over here." Daryl motioned to me as he chewed on his thumb.

"Good enough for me to go on." Marcus commented, the others nodding in agreement except Shane. Dale brought over the bag of guns.

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again." Rick said hopefully.

"Aint no maybe 'bout it. I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her." Daryl pointed onto the map where he was going.

"Good idea. Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there, too." T-dog responded. I smiled at Marcus, who gave me a knowing look.

"Chupacabra?" Rick asked skeptically.

"You guys never heard this? Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra." Dale tells us. Jimmy chuckles at the thought.

"What are you braying at, jackass?" Daryl asks in a dangerous tone of voice. Jimmy's smile never left his face though.

"So you believe in a blood-sucking dog?" He asked skeptically. Daryl got a sort of cocky look on his face.

"Do you believe dead people walking around?" Daryl snapped. Touché.

"Their real. I've seen one." Rachel jumped in. Marcus and I laughed.

"No you didn't. That was a coyote." Marcus said. Rachel flipped the both of us off.

"You don't think they're real neither?" Daryl asked Marcus with an accusing tone in his voice. Marcus held up his hands in surrender.

"I'm not saying that they couldn't exist. I'm just saying I don't think _she_ saw one, because that was also the night she discovered our cousins moonshine stash." Marcus answered. Jimmy grabbed for a shotgun.

"Hey, hey. Ever fire one before?" Rick asked him, taking the gun out of his grasp. Jimmy looked at him a little stunned for a second.

"Well, if I'm going out, I want one." Jimmy told us. Yeah, join the club Jimmy boy.

"Yeah, an' people in hell want Slurpee's." Daryl snapped at him before walking off to the barn.

"Why don't you come and train tomorrow? If you're serious, I'm a certified instructor." Shane told him.

"For now he can come with us." Andrea told Jimmy.

"He's yours to babysit then." Shane told her. Andrea didn't object as she motioned for Jimmy to join us back at the truck.

"All right, Andrea, Marcus, I want you guys to search this area. T-dog and Rachel search over here. Shane and I will search here." Rick told everyone, gesturing to the different parts of the map. "We'll put up markers of different colors on trees so we know if we have gone into each others zones. Stay safe, and stay together. Make sure you come back with plenty of day light." Marcus helped me off the truck. I quickly ran and grabbed both sticks of the now cooked snake. I ran back, managing to hand Marcus his before him, Andrea, and Jimmy walked off.

"You can't be serious about eating that are you?" Andrea asked skeptically. Marcus just shrugged as he took a large bite.

"Taste better than armadillo." He told her, spitting out the bones as he chewed. Andrea made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. Marcus leaned in close as he took the next bite, chewing loudly. Andrea groaned as she quickly walked ahead of them. I began munching on my own stick as I watched T-dog and Rachel grab their guns.

"Stay where Dale can see you." She told me, kissing the top of my head as she walked by. T-dog ruffled my hair as he passed. I looked to Dale, who was staring back at me with a smile.

"Well, young lady. Don't suppose you know any good card games?" He asked. I smiled widely at him. "Carl has some in his tent. I don't think he will mind if we borrow them." I nodded running quickly into the tent. During my searching, I found a used pregnancy test. There was a plus sign on it. I'm pretty sure that means a positive. Since this was her tent, Lori must be pregnant. I wonder if who knows? I filed the information away, putting the test back and continuing my search until I found the cards. I ran back to the RV, climbing the ladder to stay on watch with Dale.

* * *

**Rachel's POV:**

"So what did you do before all this?" I asked T-dog, hoping for some conversation to pass the time by.

"I was a construction worker and a deacon at my local church." He answered me. I made a surprised noise. "What's that mean?"

"I just figured you for a mechanic or car sales men or something. It's just a little surprising is all." I answered.

"What about you? What did you do?" T-dog asked, a teasing look in his eye. I smiled back at him.

"I was a Junior in high school. I played in the Marching Band, sang in Choir, did national honors society, beta club. All that fun stuff." I told him. T-dog whistled at my list.

"How old are you anyways, girl?" He asked. I scrunched my face up in thought, before turning to him.

"What month is it again?" I asked. T-dog paused mid-stride, me following suit. His handsome face scrunched up in thought.

"Man, I have no idea." He answered truthfully. We both started laughing before starting back up our walking.

"Well if this is summer time, then I'm 17 now. What about you? How old are you now, Mr. T-dog?" I teased.

"Don't call me that." He chuckled, pausing to hammer in a flag to a tree. "I'll be 29 this fall."

"What does T-dog stand for?" I asked him as we continued to walk. He gave me a sly look.

"What does Princess stand for?" He laughed at the stank eye I gave him. "It stands for Theodore Douglas."

"Theodore." I tried out the name on my tongue, liking the way it sounded. "I like it." He smiled and shook his head at me. We called out Sophia's name a few times as we walked.

"How's your arm doing?" I asked. T-dog held up his bandaged forearm, showing me the now back to normal veins.

"I'm fine. Nothing a little antibiotics couldn't fix." T-dog smirked to me. I smiled back, but then a thought occurred to me.

"What are we going to do when we run out of those?" I thought out loud. What were we going to do when Princess ran out of epipens or Benadryl? T-dog didn't answer, because we both knew the sad truth. People were going to die from simple, curable diseases.

"What happened to your family?" T-dog asked after a few minutes of silence. I sighed, thinking back to our home state.

"All got bit. I remember when it happened Marcus was at the navy base about an hour away. Princess, my father, and I were hiding in our house, all our weapons in the "safe room". It had been a few days sense the power cut out, a day and a half sense we last talked to Marcus on the phone, and six or seven hours sense we lost the radio messages. Suddenly the walkers were all around us. Father tried to make me go in the safe room with Princess, but I wasn't going to just leave him out there alone. I stayed out fighting. Dad got bit, and walkers surrounded me. I thought I was going to die and Princess, too. Either from the bite or starvation. But then suddenly Marcus was there out of nowhere to save the day, like he always is." I chuckled at the memory. "He was yelling this Indian war cry that he would use when we played as kids. We cleared the room, put them all down. Princess came out of the safe room then and walked over to our father. He was the first corpse we saw come back to life. I about had a heart attack when it happened. He was trying to bite her, but Marcus put him down, too. He told me it was fine, but I think it bothers him more than he lets on. We went into Jackson next, to all our family's houses. After finding them all dead or gone, we drove to Atlanta, hoping to find the safe haven. That's when we met you guys. What about you?" I asked.

"Most of my family had already died. Saw a few of the others get turned. There's about three that I'm unsure of, but I never could find them. I was running from Atlanta right as they fire bombed it. I had a church van full of people that I was getting out from there. Didn't know some of them from jack though. I met this old man on the way out in an RV who tells me there is a cop setting up camp by a rock quarry. The rest is history." T-dog told me before glancing at the sun. "Best start heading back. It's startin' to get dark."

* * *

**Princess' POV:**

I followed Glenn into the RV. He snatched his hat back off my head, chuckling at me as he did. We sat at the table, waiting for Dale.

"Don't you have something better to be doing?" Glenn asked me, fidgeting a little nervously. I paused in the snake's skin that I was cleaning off.

"I'm doing it." I responded, gesturing to the snakeskin that I was going to try and make a hide out of.

"I meant away from here. Like keeping Carl company or helping Lori cook?" Glenn asked.

"I already visited Carl. He's sleeping now. And I tried helping Carol and Lori, but they both told me I was just getting under foot and kicked me out." I told him. Glenn sighed as Dale walked in.

"Sorry. Just returning you book." Glenn told him as he set the book down on the table.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. If I had known the world was ending, I'd have brought better books." Dale told us. I snickered, eyeing the book collection he had. Glenn glanced at me nervously before looking back to Dale.

"Dale, you think Andrea's on her period? I'm only asking 'cause it's like all the women are acting really weird." Glenn rambled. I could see Dale looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but I continued to work on my snakeskin. "And I read somewhere that when women spend a lot of time together, their cycles line up and they all get super crazy hormonal at the same time." Dale held up his hand to stop Glenn. After a short pause I looked up, seeing both of them glance at me.

"Don't look at me. I haven't even started having period's yet. Heck, I don't even know why I will have one. And I know Rachel had hers last week. That is the extent of my period knowledge." I told them, going back to the snakeskin.

"I'm gonna advise you to keep that theory to yourself." Dale told Glenn in a hushed voice. I snorted. "Who else is acting weird?"

"Maggie." Glenn said, sitting back down. "She started off being mean to me. Then she wanted to have se-"

"Uh, Princess. Can you give Glenn and I some privacy, please?" Dale asked, glaring at Glenn. I sighed, leaving the skin on the table as I left. Marcus was asleep on our sleeping bags, taking an afternoon nap out of sheer boredom. I could make out T-dog and Rachel coming back in the distance. I decided to investigate the edge of the forest along the property. I raced over to the forest, basking in the shade of the trees. I climbed up a tree, sitting on a branch as I listened to the crickets. A twig breaking in the distance caused my head to snap over. I looked to see what looked like a walker, but they were carrying a crossbow. Daryl? I waited till he got nearer and sure enough it was him. I jumped down from the tree, causing Daryl to raise his bow at me. I held up my hands in surrender. I noticed his sleeves were torn off again.

"Couldn't take going the whole day with sleeves, could ya?" I teased. Daryl glared at me as he lowered his weapon.

"What are you doing out here, Runt?" He asked. I noticed his body was caked with dirt and blood, which were staining his shirt and mouth. He had a necklace made with ears around his neck and what looks like use to be his shirtsleeves now were tied over his bloody side.

"I got bored. What happened to you? Try to kiss a walker or something?" Daryl rolled his eye at me and began his stumbling walk back, not answering my questions. I got in step a few feet behind him. "Didn't you have a horse when you left?"

"Shut it." Daryl growled out. Jeez somebody's cranky. I obeyed though and followed him quietly back to the camp. As we entered the field, I heard the sound of distant yelling and footsteps running toward us. Daryl limped and walked with a lean. I glanced around him to see Shane, Glenn, T-dog, Rick, and Rachel standing in front of us, each with a weapon. They didn't seem to have noticed me yet.

"Is that Daryl?" I heard Glenn's voice ask.

"That's the third time you've pointed that thing at my head. You gonna pull the trigger or what?" Daryl growled. No one said anything, but I could sense the relief. The sound of a gunshot went off, causing Daryl to fall to the ground. I stared with wide eyes at him. Was he dead?! I looked back at the others who were now looking at me with wide eyes. A slight pain in my left shoulder caused me to turn my head. Blood was blossoming from my sleeve as my arm flared up in pain.

"Ow?" I said confused. My acknowledgement of my own pain seemed to allow my brain to recognize all of the pain. My arm suddenly flared up in more pain than I had ever known. "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." I chanted, causing everyone to finally move.

"No! No! Stop!" Rick yelled as Rachel and T-dog rushed over to me. I winced as they both inspected my arm.

"It went through both sides on her arm. She shouldn't have shrapnel damage like Carl did." T-dog said. Marcus appeared out of nowhere, scooping me up in his arms. It must have taken him a minute to get his bearings after his nap. Rick and Shane heaved Daryl up over their shoulders.

"I was kidding." Daryl groaned out. Thank God he was alive. Marcus' walking jostled my wound, but I gritted my teeth not to cry out. Marcus looked pissed beyond belief, and I'm pretty sure some of that was from the fact that I went into the forest when I wasn't supposed to.

"Oh my God. Is he dead?" Andrea asked in a worried voice as she and Dale ran over.

"Unconscious. You just grazed him." Rick told her.

"But don't _worry_ you managed to hit Princess." Shane told her sarcastically. Her worried gaze flickered over to me.

"And _this_ is why we didn't let you go roaming around with your gun earlier, _sweetheart_." Rachel snapped at Andrea as she practically murdered the blonde with her eyes.

"I-I was just trying to help." Andrea stuttered out in an apologetic voice, but Rachel seemed to be having none of that.

"No, you're just trying to get out of doing the dishes and shit by being 'one of the guys' but you lack the skills. So shut the hell up with all your whining about the guns until you get trained how to use one and learn to follow orders." Rachel yelled. T-dog's arm restrained Rachel as she leaned in, her posture practically begging to beat the shit out of Andrea.

"But look at him. What the hell happened? He's wearing ears." Glenn's panicked voice brought all our attention back to Daryl. Rick ripped the necklace off and stuffed it in his shirt.

"Let's keep that to ourselves." Rick responded. I let out a whimper of pain as Rachel tied a strip of cloth around my arm.

"Guys, isn't this Sophia's?" T-dog asked, holding up Sophia's doll. We all stopped for a minute to stare.

"It's hers." I confirmed for them out loud. We walked without another word inside. Hershel walked us into a bedroom for them to lay Daryl on. Daryl came too as they were setting him down.

"His wound looks the worst and has been bleeding longer. I should probably stich him up first." Hershel told Rick.

"Nah, do the Runt first. I can wait." Daryl grunted. Hershel sighed but did what Daryl asked.

"I'll help him get out of his shirt so he'll be ready when he get's to you." Marcus told Hershel.

"Not with them in the room." Daryl growled, gesturing to Rachel and I. Rachel sighed loudly.

"Fine, I'll leave, but you better not cry while I'm gone." Rachel joked lightly, kissing me on the head as she walked by. "And you Mr. Dixon can get over Princess being in here while your shirt is off. You need to get that grime wiped off of you before they can stitch you up."

"I'm afraid that I don't have any antiseptic so this is going to pinch a little." Hershel told me. I sat next to Daryl's head, facing the headboard. As soon as the needle went through my skin, I hissed, scrunching my face in discomfort. My hand automatically reached out for the one closest to it, which happened to be Daryl's. Daryl didn't object and allowed me to cling to his hand as my brother wiped all the dirt and blood from Daryl's body. Daryl even squeezed my hand a few times when I hissed in discomfort. "All done. Here's the medicine she needs to take." Hershel said, passing Marcus the container. I slowly got off the bed and walked out the bedroom door with Marcus.

* * *

Marcus and Rachel both chewed me out in different turns for going into the forest alone until it was dinnertime. The table sat in awkward silence as we ate. Marcus, Rachel, and I were sitting at the crowded children's table with Maggie, Glenn, Beth, and Jimmy. There was hardly any space around the small table, so I was forced to sit in Marcus' lap, not that either of us really minded. The silence was deafening and awkward.

"Does anybody know how to play guitar?" Glenn asked, a smile on his face as he tried to break the awkward silence with conversation. Rachel, Marcus, and I shared a look. Marcus shook his head 'no' with gusto. "Dale found a cool one." Rachel looked pointedly at Marcus who shook his head. "Somebody's got to know how to play." Glenn reasoned. Marcus finally looked like he was caving as he opened his mouth.

"Otis did." Patricia said quietly. Marcus snapped his mouth shut. The awkwardness thickened in the room if even possible.

"Yes, and he was very good, too." Hershel told her in comfort. We went back to eating silently. My eyes caught Maggie and Glenn passing a note beneath the table. I nudged Marcus jutting my head to show him. Rachel looked as well. We all snickered quietly at the two. I finished my plate before the others, but I felt like I couldn't leave yet.

"I'm just going to go take Daryl a plate." Carol said politely as she began fixing said plate. I hopped up from the table, grabbing a glass from the kitchen and filling it with kool aid. I followed Carol silently into the room. Daryl yanked up the covers as we walked in. "How are you feeling?"

"'Bout as good as I look." Daryl groaned out as he resituated himself. I set down the glass on the side table by his food.

"I brought you some dinner. You must be starving." Carol said softly. Daryl looked at it but didn't say a word. She leaned over and gave Daryl a small kiss on his head. Daryl seemed stunned at such a kind gesture.

"Watch out, I got stitches." Daryl mumbled. Oh, God. This guy's was awful with normal human interactions.

"You need to know something. You did more for my little girl today than her own daddy ever did in his whole life." Carol said sweetly. Daryl seemed to fluster over the shower of affection she was showing him.

"I didn't do anything Rick or Shane wouldn't have done." Daryl grumbled, brushing the complement off.

"I know. You're every bit as good as them. Every bit." Carol told him before she walked out the door and closed it. I stayed inside the room, watching Daryl's back. After a few minutes of silence, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Well are you gonna eat or not?" I asked, causing Daryl to jump. "Do you need me to feed it to ya or something?" Daryl glared at me.

"Just bring it 'round to this side and set it on the bed." Daryl snapped. I did as he said, smiling as I did so. I watched him take the first few bites. "There! Ya happy now?" He asked, glaring at me through a mouth full of food. I nodded, still smiling. I couldn't explain the strange bond I felt to the old man. "Good. Now get. I'm tired." I walked to the door, but paused, running back and giving him a peck on the head like Carol.

"Night, Uncle Daryl." I said as I ran back to the door, quickly exiting the room.


	13. Chapter 13

**I am so sorry that this update has taken forever! I basically celebrated my birthday for a week, had a short summer painting job, and then went to visit relatives for a week and a half (they didn't like sharing me with my computer).**

**Anyways, I'm back! So here's the next chapter! If you read my other stories, those will be update this week as well! I am also starting Band Camp this week, so that may put a few weeks between the chapters.**

**To Kansas: Thanks for always reading and reviewing. I'm glad you liked the way everyone interacted with each other. Hopefully you will like this chapter too!**

**Thanks to all the favorites, follows, and reviews!**

**Also, check out BreenaBelle-xoxo and her Walking Dead FF's. They are pretty awesome! She is also doing a Submit Your Original Character story for Walking Dead, so check that out!**

* * *

**Princess' POV:**

It was the early the next morning. Marcus had gone into the RV and grabbed the guitar. We sat a little ways from the group, far enough so they couldn't hear Marcus as he quietly played us a song, singing in a smooth tenor voice as Rachel chimed in with different harmony parts. I sat between Rachel's legs as she braided my hair.

"I knew someone had to know how to play the guitar." Glenn's surprised voice caused Marcus to jump and quickly stop playing. "Don't stop man, you're good!"

"No, I'm not." Marcus denied. "Don't tell anyone or I will cut off your nipples." Marcus pointed a finger at Glenn, who seemed unaffected by the threat.

"What do you mean I can't tell anyone? You have to play for everyone!" Glenn exclaimed, sitting down on the other side of Rachel with a barrel full of peaches. Marcus shook his head in denial.

"Marcus has stage fright." Rachel told him. Glenn looked at Marcus with stunned eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me." Rachel and I both laughed as Marcus blushed, pointedly looking away from us.

"Princess and I are the only one's who know. No one else has ever heard him before now." Rachel told him.

"Guess that means we have to kill you or just make you one of us." I told him. Marcus and Rachel smiled, as Glenn looked at us a little uneasy.

"What does that mean." Glenn asked.

"I've always wanted another brother." Rachel said with a far off look on her face. Marcus scrunched up his face.

"No you haven't." He stated. Rachel shrugged her shoulders and nodded in agreement.

"No, I really haven't. But it's nice to have another one anyways." Rachel gave Glenn a smile, which he returned.

"Now that we're siblings and all…what did the note from Maggie say?" Marcus asked. Glenn stammered and looked like he was trying to think up a lie. "I saw you sneak off toward the barn."

"Look at that face. It must have been something good to be trying so hard to cover it up." Rachel teased. Glenn looked to be seriously panicking.

"Did you come to bribe us into not talking with peaches?" Marcus grinned, glancing at the bucket between his legs.

"That won't work on me. I hate peaches." I told him. Rachel leveled me with a look.

"It's the end of the world. You're not allowed to be picky with your food anymore. You eat what's given." Rachel told me. "So how long have you and Maggie been a thing?" Glenn stuttered, not making coherent words. Might as well throw him a life raft.

"You're one to talk Rachel. I saw you making goggly eyes at T-dog." I teased. Rachel gave me a shove, while Glenn looked relieved for the change in topic.

"I'll admit it. T-dog's hot." Rachel said, blushing madly.

"Oh that's disgusting. What's he like 15 years older than you?" Marcus looked like he was about to vomit.

"No, he's only 12 years older!" Rachel defended herself, still blushing madly. Marcus threw his arms up.

"Oh, how silly of me. That's soo much better than 15. Those three years make all the difference." Marcus said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm going to go and take Uncle Daryl some peaches." I told them, grabbing three of them with my hands.

"Did she just call him 'Uncle Daryl'?" I heard Glenn ask behind me. I ignored them as I made my way to Daryl's tent. I arrived to see he was using his arrows to poke holes in the netting of his tent.

"You're ruining the tent and we can't exactly stop by Bass Pro-Shop to replace it." I commented, coming and sitting down next to the cot he had.

"What are you my mother?" Daryl grumbled. I threw a peach at him, which he caught easily. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

"This is boring as hell. No wonder you were poking holes in your tent." Daryl snorted in response.

"Why ya still carryin' your satchel around?" Daryl asked, pointing with his arrow at my bag filled with all my medicine. I shrugged.

"Paranoia. Better to be safe then sorry." I stared intently at the peach in my hand, bringing it to eye level as I started to work myself up.

"What ya doin' now?" Daryl asked, watching me in confusion.

"Working myself up to eating this. I'm not allowed to be picky any more, apparently." Daryl smirked at me, shaking his head a little.

"Hey." Andrea said, stepping into Daryl's tent. "This is not that great, but…" She handed Daryl a book as she took a seat next to me. She gave me a soft smile as Daryl looked over the book.

"What, no pictures?" Daryl joked, tossing me the book so I could inspect it. I gave it a quick turn over, noting that it didn't seem that interesting.

"I'm so sorry. I feel like shit." Andrea confessed, looking between Daryl and I. I shrugged my good shoulder at her.

"Yeah, you and me both." Daryl told her, fixing the pillow behind his head as he did.

"I don't expect you to forgive me, either of you, but if there's anything I can do…" Andrea trailed off.

"You were trying to protect the group. We're good." Daryl told her. Andrea turned to me.

"Honestly, I'm kinda surprised no one shot me sooner. I always seem to be in the worst places at the worst time. It was my own fault for wandering near the woods…speaking of which I haven't gotten in trouble for that yet. So getting shot probably did me a favor." I responded, throwing the book to the floor beside Daryl's cot.

"But, hey, shoot either of us again, you'd best pray I'm dead." Daryl told her as she left.

"Yeah, and get better books for the next apology." I called after her. Daryl chuckled as I sighed, taking a bite of the peach. "Ew. No. I'll starve." I shoved my peach in Daryl's hand, spitting out the bite as I left the tent. I walked over quickly to the RV that Carl was standing at. He was using a knife to peal the bark off of a stick. He was also wearing his father's old hat.

"Nice hat. It make's your head look small." Carl gave me a small glare, but rolled his eyes and smiled. "How ya feeling?" I asked. Carl glanced up at me.

"It's still sore a little. What about yours?" I gently rubbed my sore shoulder, wincing a little.

"Eh. I just can't lift stuff with it for now. I better have a cool scar though." I smirked.

"Same here. You can be in the 'I got shot' club with my dad and me." I smirked and nodded. "Do you really know how to shoot?"

"Yeah. My brother and Uncle taught me how when I was younger. Why?" I asked. Carl glanced around to make sure no one was listening.

"Today the rest of the group is learning how to shoot. My mom wont let me learn though. So I grabbed a handgun from inside the RV. Think you could show me if I can't convince Shane to talk my parents into it?" Carl rushed out in a whisper. My eyes grew large.

"They're going to figure out that you took the gun! We'll get in trouble." I whispered back. Carl rolled his eyes at me.

"They wont find out unless you tell them. Come on, live a little." Carl egged me. I sighed, thinking over the pros and cons. Carl's blue eyes bored into mine. I felt something small flutter in my stomach.

"Fine." I groaned. The huge smile that came over's Carl's face made it worth it. I turned when I heard someone walking over to us.

"Dude, nice lid, man." Shane told Carl. "What's going on?" Carl quickly set down his stick as he hurried to begin his defense.

"I want to learn to shoot, too. Can you teach me?" Carl asked, looking at Shane with a serious face.

"Well, man, that's up to your parents." Shane told him.

"Can you talk to them? They'll listen to you." Carl told him. Shane gave a disbelieving scoff.

"We'll see, okay?" Carl nodded before the two of us began to walk away. "Hey." We both paused to look at him. "Let me see what you've got there." Oh crap. I felt my body turn clammy as Carl pulled up his shirt to show Shane the handgun. Shane's face showed how pissed off he was. He chucked the peach he was eating into the woods. "Come on." Shane took the gun and guided Carl over to his parents. I followed along quietly. "Rick, Dale, Lori. Can I talk to you guys?" The three people looked at us in confusion but agreed. "I found Carl with this." Shane held up the handgun. I took a seat next to Carl on the picnic bench. Lori grabbed the gun, checking to see if it was loaded. Based on her pissed off stance, I assumed it was.

"How the hell did this happen?" Lori asked, passing a little.

"Well, it's my fault. I let him into the RV. He said he wanted a walkie, that you sent him for one." Dale told them.

"So on top of everything else, he lied." Lori asked. Ohhhh, he is going to get an earful. How is he going to get out of this? "What's he thinking?"

"He wants to learn how to shoot. He asked me to teach him. Now it's none of my business, but I'm happy to do it. It's your call." Shane told them.

"Well, I'm not comfortable with it." Lori told them. Shane and Rick shared a look, obviously disagreeing. "Oh, don't make me out to be the unreasonable one here. Rick?"

"I know. I have my concerns too, but –" Rick started but Lori cut him off.

"There's no but. He was just shot. He's just back on his feet and he wants a gun?" Lori snapped.

"Better than him being afraid of 'em. There are guns in camp for a reason. He should learn to handle them safely." Rick tried to reason with her.

"I don't want my kid walking around with a gun." Lori told him. How the hell was he supposed to protect himself then?

"How can you defend that? You can't let him go around without protection." Rick defended.

"He's as safe as he'll ever be right here." Wow, I had no idea Lori was so protective. He couldn't stay by her side forever. "Look, everything you're saying makes perfect sense. It feels wrong. I mean, I didn't feel good about him following you out into the woods. And I wish I'd said something. I should've gone with my gut."

"He's growing up, thank God. We've got to start treating him more like an adult." Rick told her.

"Then he needs to act like one. He's not mature enough to handle a gun." Lori snapped, turning to look at us as she spoke.

"I'm not gonna play with it, Mom. It's not a toy." Carl jumped to his own defense, going to stand in the group of adults. "I'm sorry I disappointed you," Oooh, nice touch. "But I want to look for Sophia." Heartstrings. Nice. "I want to defend our camp. I can't do that without a gun."

"Shane's the best instructor I know. I've seen him teach kids younger than Carl." Rick told Lori before turning to me. "Princess how old were you when you learned to shoot?"

"About 4 and a half." I responded. Lori looked between Rick, Shane, and I a few times before she turned to Carl.

"You will take this seriously and you will behave responsibly. And if I hear from anyone in this camp that you are not living up to our expectations –" Lori was cut off by Rick.

"He won't let you down." Rick gave Carl a serious look. Carl nodded before looking back to Lori.

"Yeah." He agreed.

**Rachel's POV:**

"Hey, can we catch a ride with you to the shooting range?" I yelled at Jimmy, Beth, and Patricia as they were driving their truck. They answered by slowing down for Marcus and I to jump in the back.

"Is your sister not coming?" Beth asked, poking her head through the small window from the front of the truck.

"No." Jimmy started up driving. Marcus crossed his legs and leaned his head back to soak up the sun. I noticed his hair was past his ear lobes, looking shaggy and unkempt. It seemed the longer his dirty blonde hair became, the less curls he would have in his hair.

"How come Princess isn't coming?" Beth asked us.

"There's not a need. She already knows how to shoot. Plus her shoulder is still healing." Marcus told her, keeping his eyes closed. Beth nodded before moving her head back into the inside of the truck cab.

"You need a hair cut." I spoke my thoughts out loud.

"Thanks mom." He replied, not even opening his eyes or moving his head. I glanced over his worn clothes and his shoes that had a few holes in them.

"Your clothes and shoes are wearing down too. We need to scavenge some more. Not for just you, but for Princess and me, too." I added. Marcus let out a sigh.

"Anything else I should put on the shopping list?" Marcus sassed. I smirked even though he wasn't looking.

"Well winter's coming soon so we should keep that in mind. Also, if we can find me some diamond earrings or a Prada bag that would be fantastic." I joked. Marcus cracked his eyes at me.

"Why of course, my lady." Marcus said in a silly British accent that more sounded like an old lady. "I'll add that to my list of chores right after I finished bowing down to the ground you walk on." I laughed loudly, causing Marcus to smile. The car came to a stop in a small clearing. T-dog and Andrea were already there, setting up the bottles for us to practice with. Marcus and I jumped out of the truck, walking over to T-dog.

"I know we need to teach them how to shoot, but I sure hate having to waste the ammo." T-dog admitted.

"We can find more. It'd be worse if they didn't learn and got bit by a walker instead." Marcus assured him. T-dog hummed in acknowledgement.

"Hey." We all turned to look at Shane as he walked up to us. "I need you three to help me watch them shoot. Give them pointers and such." We nodded in response. We stood a few paces back as Shane began to go over a few pointers for how to shoot.

"What you wanna bet that Jimmy tries to look cool while shooting and ends up looking like an idiot?" Marcus asked. T-dog and I laughed as we glanced at Jimmy.

"I can see that happening." T-dog agreed.

"Oh, come on. Give him a little bit of credit. I bet he's one of those people who is a natural at shooting." I argued.

"Oh, he could be. I just see him screwing himself up by trying to pull off something he saw in a movie in order to look like a badass." Marcus said, wearing a sarcastic smirk. T-dog and him laughed as we watch everyone line up to take their stance.

"Fine. A piece of bread." I told Marcus, sticking out my hand. He immediately grabbed and shook it. I pushed up my glasses as I walked up behind Patricia. She was surprisingly good as she began to shoot, hitting most of her targets. "You're doing great." I encouraged her. She sent me a small smile. I looked over to watch Marcus give Beth some pointers.

"Just spread your legs apart a little more. You wanna make sure you have a firm stance. And don't buckle your legs." Marcus told her as he nudged her feet apart with his own. I notice a small blush begin to form on Beth's cheeks. When Beth fired again she still missed. "Don't lock up your elbows. Bend them like this." Marcus moved her elbows, causing the blush to grow bigger on Beth's cheeks. "And pull the trigger as you exhale." Beth did as instructed, finally hitting a target. Marcus let out a whoop while Beth let out a soft giggle. I shook my head, turning to look at T-dog and Jimmy on my other side. Jimmy had his gun turned sideways, like he was trying to be intimidating or something. As he shot, he missed at least three times.

"Hey, come on, man. Don't give me that gangsta shit." T-dog told him. Jimmy begrudgingly turned his gun the right way up, fired, and hit the target. Great, now I was going to have to give up my bread with dinner tonight. I turned to look at Marcus, who had also been watching the exchange. He threw his arms up in victory and smiled a shit-eating grin at me. I rolled my eyes, pushing up my glasses before flipping him off.


	14. Chapter 14

**So here's the next chapter! Thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! You guys are the best!**

**A special thanks to BreenaBelle-xoxo for keeping me motivated to doing the story and puttin gup with all of my messages! You guys have to check out her WD FF's!**

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**Princess' POV:**

We all sat around the fire, eating eggs and squirrel. I sat at Uncle Daryl's feet while he sat in a more comfortable chair. Marcus sat to my left with Carl on his other side. Rachel sat to my right, braiding her hair while T-dog tended to the fire on her other side. It was a quiet and peaceful morning, something we hadn't had in a while.

"Um, guys." Glenn said nervously. I continued to eat, glancing at him occasionally as he struggled to find his words. "So…the barn's full of walkers." I stopped mid-chew to stair at him. Marcus coughed next to me as he chocked a little on his eggs. Uncle Daryl gave him a hard slap on the back as he stood up, making the egg fly from Marcus' mouth. We immediately got up and walked to the barn. Rachel and Marcus hovering next to me in paranoia. We watched as Shane stepped forward, waiting for his confirmation. His pissed off face seemed to tell us all that we needed to know.

"You cannot tell me you're all right with this." Shane spoke to Rick, storming right past him.

"No, I'm not, but we're guests here. This isn't our land." Rick answered, speaking lowly so as to not rile the walkers.

"God, this is our lives, man!" Shane yelled.

"Lower your voice." Glenn whispered.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea spoke up.

"It ain't right. Not remotely." T-dog put in as well.

"We've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time." Shane spoke up. I felt Marcus tense up next to me at the mention of the Fort.

"We can't go." Rick insisted.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asked.

"Because my daughter's still out there." Carol spoke up.

"Okay. I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility." Shane spoke up.

"Shane, we're not leaving Sophia behind." Rick snapped at him.

"I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago." Uncle Daryl spoke up.

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll." Shane snapped at him.

"Man, you don't know that the hell you're talking about." Uncle Daryl yelled at him.

"It's more than you've found." Rachel added. Shane glared at her as he began yelling again.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said." Shane yelled. "You get a good lead, it's in the first 48 hours."

"Shane, stop." Rick tried to real in his friend, but Shane was going back into crazy mode, like I had seen at the CDC when he was drunk, only this time he was sober.

"Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction." Shane yelled.

"Shut your mouth!" Uncle Daryl yelled, going for Shane, but Rick stepped between them.

"Wait!" Rick yelled as both men continued to yell at each other. Marcus moved from beside me, going in between Uncle Daryl and Rick with Glenn as everyone began yelling for the others to calm down. Everyone finally stopped yelling. "Now just let me talk to Hershel. Let me figure it out."

"What are you gonna figure out?!" Shane yelled, getting up in Rick's face, but Lori quickly shoved him back.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land." Rick reasoned.

"Hershel sees those things in there as people, sick people, his wife, his stepson." Dale told us.

"You knew?" Rick asked bewildered.

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel." Dale confirmed.

"And you waited the night?" Shane accused.

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did." Dale snapped at Shane. "I was waiting till this morning to say something, but Glenn wanted to be the one."

"The man is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or no." Shane yelled. He really shouldn't be one to be pointing fingers at people about being crazy. The walkers in the barn started banging on the doors. Everyone froze, staring at the doors in alarm. Rachel moved back by my side, grabbing my hand and leading me away.

"Stay away from the barn until we get something worked out, alright." Rachel told me. She glanced over her shoulder as the others began to follow us. "And stay away from Shane, too." She said in a lower voice. I nodded, before running off to follow Uncle Daryl as he stormed away from the group. He glanced at me as I followed behind him.

"You can't come." He told me as I came up next to him.

"And you aren't suppose to go." I responded. "Your side is hurt. You shouldn't go alone."

"Your shoulder is hurt and your 5." Uncle Daryl responded as he grabbed the saddle. I glared at him.

"I'm 11." I said in a flat voice. He grunted from the weight in the saddle.

"Don't make a difference. Ya still a runt." Uncle Daryl threw the saddle over some metal thing that I could never remember the name of, causing him to wince.

"You can't." Carol said, causing me to spin around in surprise.

"I'm fine." Uncle Daryl snapped, quickly standing back up to start getting the horse things again.

"Hershel said you need to heal, both of you." Carol gave me a pointed look. I shifted my gaze to the floor as I scratched the back of my neck.

"Yeah, I don't care." Uncle Daryl muttered as he opened the stall door.

"Well I do. Rick's going out later to follow the trail." Carol told him, trying to get him to stop.

"Yeah, well, I ain't gonna sit around and do nothing." He responded.

"No, you're gonna go out there and get yourself hurt even worse." Carol told him. "We don't know if we're gonna find her, Daryl. We don't." I looked at Carol, who shifted a little uncomfortably under Uncle Daryl's gaze and mine. "I don't." Carol faltered, seeming to loose her nerve.

"What?" Uncle Daryl asked.

"Can't lose you, too." Carol said, her voice breaking. A few tears began to leak out of her eyes. I shifted uncomfortably, wondering if I should probably leave. Uncle Daryl dropped the reins for the horse on the ground, before angrily throwing the saddle on the ground too. He groaned in pain from the action, causing Carol and I to take a few steps toward him. "Are you all right?"

"Just leave me be." Uncle Daryl snapped at us. "Stupid bitch." He muttered under his breath as he stalked off. I paused beside Carol, whose eyes were filled with tears. I shuffled awkwardly again. I wasn't really good with tears, they made me uncomfortable.

"I think he's just scared for Sophia and doesn't know how to react to people liking him." I spoke up. Carol wiped away a tear that had fallen and nodded in response. "I'm sure he didn't mean it." It was quiet for a few more seconds before I finally decided to ask the question I had been dying to ask. "Do you blame me? For Sophia missing?" Carol looked down at me in confusion. "I wouldn't blame you if you did." I quickly looked to the floor. It was quiet for a few seconds before Carol's hand turned my face to look back up at her.

"I don't blame you. Those walkers had her spooked and she ran off from you. You couldn't have done anything to stop it." Carol told me with a sad smile on her face. I returned the sad smile before running back to camp. I spotted Rachel and Glenn on watch duty on top of the RV. I quickly climbed the ladder to join them.

"Andrea's looking for you." Glenn told Dale as he walked toward us.

"Thank you, Glenn." Dale answered tiredly.

"Any chance you got an extra hat?" Glenn asked. Dale shook his head before throwing his fishing hat up at Glenn. Rachel and I watched as he put it on. I couldn't help myself as I started laughing at him. Rachel soon joined in. "What?"

"You look like a dork." I told him, causing Rachel to laugh even harder. Glenn took off the hat and slapped me jokingly over the head with it.

"What happened to your hat?" Rachel asked. Glenn sighed.

"Maggie cracked an egg in it because I told you guys about the barn." He told us, causing me to giggle at his misfortune. "Why are women so complicated?"

"Because it makes us all the more intriguing." I answered. Rachel laughed, while Glenn chuckled and shook his head. We watched as Andrea walked out of the RV.

"You okay?" Glenn called down below to Dale.

"Yeah." Dale answered distractedly. There was a short pause. "Do you and Rachel mind running and getting me some water? I just…I need a second."

"You'll keep watch?" Rachel asked as they both got up and sat down their weapons. After a few seconds of no answer, we all looked at each other. "Dale?"

"Yeah, sure." Dale answered. Rachel looked at me, passing me her rifle.

"Just in case." She told me. I nodded, watching as they left. About a minute later, Dale came out carrying the bag of guns. He glanced around, stopping when our eyes met.

"You didn't see anything." He told me. I nodded once, watching as he trekked off into the woods. A few minutes past by before Rick, Andrea, and Marcus pulled out a map on the truck and began discussing where they were going to look for Sophia. Marcus gave me a confused look but didn't say anything.

"Rick." Hershel said as he came up.

"We just have our guns out because we're gonna go look for Sophia." Rick quickly explained.

"Before you do that, I could use your help with something." Hershel told him as Glenn and Rachel climbed back up onto the RV.

"Count me in." Andrea told him.

"Thank you, but I just need Rick...and Marcus." Hershel told them. Rick and Marcus shared a glance before following the old man off into the woods.

"How long has Dale been gone?" Glenn asked me. I shrugged my shoulders and kept looking around the property.

"Not long." I answered vaguely, handing the gun back to Rachel. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

"This is boring." I huffed. Rachel hummed in agreement.

"We could play I spy." Rachel said. I let out a groan of disapproval as I flopped onto my back. "I'll start. I spy something brown and green and…"

"Tree." Glenn and I said at the same time. Rachel glanced between us.

"…yeah." She responded in a sheepish voice. I let out a snort.

"S'up." Glenn said. I sat up, watching as a crazed and angry looking Shane stormed into the RV without another word. We could hear some rattling around beneath us as he searched for something. Shane stormed back out.

"You see where he went?" Shane asked.

"Who?" Rachel replied.

"Don't even try to shit me, okay?" Shane snapped.

"What?" Glenn said under his breath, sharing a confused look with Rachel and I.

"Dale, Rachel. Did you see where Dale went?" Shane elaborated, turning to look around the farm.

"Yeah, he asked Glenn and I to run and get him some water. He said he'd cover us on watch." Rachel told him, eyeing him distrustfully.

"And he was gone when you got back, huh?" Shane asked. Rachel and Glenn shared concerned looks.

"Yeah." Glenn responded. When Shane had this crazy look in his eye like he did today, it made him hurt people. Fear for Dale gripped me. "You think he's okay?"

"Oh, he's fine." Shane responded.

"Why'd he bail then?" Rachel asked.

"So you wouldn't tell me which way he went." Shane answered. He took a step forward but paused to turn back to me. "Princess, you somehow manage to see everything in this camp. Which way did he go?" I looked him dead in the eye as I shrugged my shoulders. Shane let out a growl of frustration and anger as he took a step forward, making the hairs on my body stand up on end. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rachel shift the gun so that it was in a lazy shooting position. Shane paused, giving Rachel the evil eye before he stormed off. We sat back down for a few minutes, not saying anything. I saw Maggie approaching from the right.

"I spy a pretty brunette." I spoke up. Glenn's head snapped toward me before looking around for Maggie. Once he spotted her, he stood up from his sitting position.

"Lose the hat!" Rachel whispered. Glenn quickly took the fishing hat off his head.

"Maggie. Hey." Glenn watched as she ignored him. He turned back to Rachel and I. We simultaneously shooed him with our hands. He nodded quickly climbing down the ladder to run after her. We watched as Glenn talked adamantly to her. When the started kissing Rachel and I let out a few cheers and catcalls, making Glenn promptly flick us off as he continued to kiss Maggie. Maggie waved us over once they stopped.

"Think it will be ok to leave?" I asked. Rachel looked like she was thinking it over. She shrugged and nodded. We climbed down the RV, running up to the couple. I jumped on Glenn's back, making him laugh as we walked to the front porch. As soon as we got there, I jumped down from Glenn's back and went to watch Carl and Patricia play checkers. I watched them make a couple of moves, trying to figure out the rules to the game. I turned when I heard the commotion as my people gather by the porch. Carol, Uncle Daryl, T-dog, and Andrea now stood with Glenn, Maggie, and Rachel. Shane was walking toward them, carrying the gun bag.

"What's all this?" Uncle Daryl asked Shane.

"With me man?" Shane asked, passing Uncle Daryl a gun.

"Yeah." He answered, taking the gun from him, no questions asked. My mind flashed to worry for Dale since Shane had obviously found him.

"Time to grow up." Shane announced to us. He turned to Andrea. "You already got yours?"

"Yeah. Where's Dale?" Andrea asked.

"He's on his way." Shane replied lowly.

"Thought we couldn't carry." T-dog replied, still taking the handgun that Shane gave to him.

"We can and we have to." Shane answered before turning to all of us. I moved to stand between Maggie and Rachel. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't. How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?" Shane held a shotgun out to Glenn. Glenn glanced at Maggie sadly before grabbing the gun. "That's it. Can you shoot?" He asked Maggie.

"Can you stop? You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight." Maggie told him.

"You gonna protect your little sister?" Shane said, ignoring Maggie as he held out a shotgun to Rachel. She wordlessly took it.

"We have to stay, Shane." Carl spoke up behind me.

"What is this?" Lori asked as she made her way over.

"We ain't going anywhere, okay? Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He…well, he's gonna have to." That wasn't much of a defense. "Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right? Now I want you to take this. You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it." Shane said, kneeling in front of Carl. Lori stepped between them before Carl could take the handgun.

"Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make." Lori snapped. Shane turned to me, passing me the gun. I took it, still conflicted about obeying Rick though.

"Oh, shit." T-dog said, making us all turn the direction he was looking. We turned, watching as Hershel, Jimmy, Rick, and Marcus led three walkers out by a noose attached to a pole.

"What is that?" Shane growled, beginning the charge over to them as they walked to the barn. I broke into a run after them, wincing a little as it jostled my shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Shane, just back off." Rick yelled.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel questioned as the rest of us came to a halt, watching the men try to move the walkers around. Marcus glanced at the guns in Rachel's hand, and mine frowning at it. I suddenly felt sheepish and like I had betrayed him.

"Are you kidding me? You see? You see what they're holding onto?" Shane yelled while circling them.

"I see who I'm holding onto." Hershel shot back.

"No, man, you don't." Shane snapped.

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk." Rick tried to reason, but Shane was far past reason.

"What you want to talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't got to feel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us." Shane yelled. He walked over, getting in Marcus' face. "Man, I thought you cared about your sisters?" If looks could kill, Shane would be dead. Marcus' face twisted in anger as he pushed back at him.

"Shane, shut up!" Rick yelled.

"I am, dumb ass. I'm making sure they can stay here." Marcus yelled back, giving him a shove so that Shane was out of his face.

"Hey, Hershel, man, let me ask you something. Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" Shane then proceeded to shoot the walker three times in the stomach. I flinched into Rachel's side, surprised by the noise.

"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?" Shane shot it two more times. "That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?" Shane fired two more times, this time in Marcus' walker.

"Shane, enough!" Rick screamed.

"Yeah, you're right man. That is enough." And with that, Shane stepped forward, shooting Hershel and Marcus' walker in the head. Marcus dropped the pole as the walker fell, looking at Shane in contempt. Hershel fell to his knees in shock.

"Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now." Shane yelled. Marcus moved back to beside Rachel and I during Shane speech, standing protectively in front of us. Shane however, ran for the door to the barn.

"Take the snare pole." Rick yelled to Hershel, wanting to go and stop Shane. Hershel seemed to be in shock still and didn't respond. Shane began beating the lock off the door before finally getting it to pop off. Shane removed the piece of wood, beating on the door a few times to get the walkers out. The first walker came through, causing us to take a step back. Marcus reached down, taking the gun from me and running to the front with Rachel, Daryl, T-dog, and Andrea to put down the herd of walkers coming from the barn. I took a step forward, but felt an arm wrap around my shoulder, stopping me. I glanced behind me to find Carol holding me back. Shane finally turned around, shooting down Rick's walker. As the last of the walkers came through, Carol let go of her hold on me. I took slow steps forward, eventually coming to stand at Marcus' side. We all stared at the now dead walkers in front of the barn, a creepy calm coming over us after all that yelling. The sound of growling came from the barn again, drawing our attention. A small walker stepped out, with familiar dirty blonde hair. As it lifted its head, it revealed itself to be Sophia. You could feel the heavy weight settle on the group.

"Sophia? Sophia!" Carol began to sob, running forward to her. Daryl caught her before she could run to the walker. It's my fault. No matter what anyone says, it's my fault. I let out an involuntary whimper, causing Marcus to pull me in close to him. We watched as Sophia creped closer to us, each of us too frozen in shock to do something. Rick walked past me, raising his gun to her head. Marcus knelt down beside me, turning me so that I was facing him. His hands covered my ears as I watched only his face. But I still heard it. I flinched when the shot rang out, allowing a few tears to finally leak out.


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry for the little bit of wait. Thanks for the favorites, follows, and reviews!**

**Also, I'm doing a SYOC (submit your own character) story, so view my profile and send me your character!**

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**Princess' POV:**

The shot seemed to ring though my ears as Marcus drew his hands away from my ears. I took a deep breath, willing the tears to go away as Marcus wiped a few of them off my face. Carol's sobs came to my ears.

"Don't look, don't look." Uncle Daryl told Carol as he helped her stand. Carol ran from his arm back to the campsite. Beth's sobs came to my ears next. Beth rushed forward to the bodies. I took a step forward to go see Sophia, but Rachel and Marcus' hands both shot out to stop me.

"Why don't you go wait with Carl? We'll be over in a second." Rachel told me. I nodded, numbly walking back to Carl. I turned, startled as Beth let out a scream. One of the walkers had grabbed her and was now trying to bite her. Everyone ran to her rescue, pulling the two away. Beth clung to Marcus as they all watched T-dog stomp it's head before Andrea put a scythe through it. Marcus passed Beth to Jimmy as I sat down beside Carl.

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**Marcus' POV:**

Rick nodded his head at me to follow him up to the house with the Greene family. I glanced, noticing that Shane was now stalking after them. I responded by jogging up next to Shane, standing between him and Glenn.

"We've been out. We've been out combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along? You knew." Shane drawled.

"Leave us alone." Maggie snapped.

"Shane, why don't you for once in your life do us all a favor and shut the hell up." I snapped as Rick made a grab to try and stop him.

"Get your hands off me." Shane snapped at Rick before swinging around to me. "And you, stay out of this, Seal. You knew and you kept it from us."

"I didn't know." Hershel said weakly, still in shook from what he had seen.

"That's bullshit. I think y'all knew." Shane pressed on.

"We didn't know!" Maggie snapped. I couldn't help but admire how strong and unafraid she was.

"Why was she there?!" Shane yelled at them.

"Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed." Hershel offered. I believed him, but Shane didn't.

"You expect me to believe that? What do I look like? Do I look like an idiot?" Shane barked.

"Yup." I mumbled, causing Shane to send his glare over to me. Rick stepped forward, stopping Shane from stepping forward.

"I don't care what you believe!" Hershel snapped.

"Everybody just calm down." Rick tried to reason, ever the peacekeeper.

"Get him off my land!" Hershel yelled. There was no real surprise there. Shane didn't seem to take it well.

"Let me tell you something." Shane took a step forward, but Rick and I put a hand on either side of his chest, holding him back.

"Hey. Don't touch him!" Maggie yelled, stepping forward and slapping Shane across the face. Shane turned his glare on her, causing Glenn to jump between the two. "Haven't you done enough?" The Greene's turned and walked inside next. Hershel paused at the door.

"I mean it…off my land." Hershel stated before going inside. Glenn and I shared a pissed off look before turning and heading inside.

"Way to ruin it for everyone, man." I grumbled. Shane shot me a dirty look but didn't respond.

"What are you doing?" Rick asked. When Shane didn't answer, he repeated his question.

"Daryl almost died looking for her, Rick. Any one of us could have. I'm gonna tell you right now, that son of a bitch, he knew." Shane told us. This guy really was crazy paranoid.

"He didn't know. He's not like that. He opened his home to us." Rick defended.

"He put us all in danger, man. He kept a barn full of walkers." Shane spat.

"It was pretty damn secure before you went and broke all the locks off of the barn." I mumbled. Shane turned his glare on me. Neither of us broke eye contact.

"So you just start an insurrection, hand out guns and massacre his family?" Rick added.

"His family's dead, Rick." Shane answered, not taking his eyes off me.

"Well, he doesn't believe that. He thinks you just murdered them in cold blood." Rick told him.

"No, man, I don't care what he thinks." Shane spat, finally turning toward back to Rick.

"I was handling it, brother. I was handling it and you just –" Rick started to say, but Shane cut him off.

"You had us out in those woods looking for a little girl that every single one of us knew was dead! That's what you did." Shane yelled as Rick and Shane slowly got in each other's faces'. "Rick, you're just as delusional as that guy. You were handling it, huh?"

"Looking for Sophia is completely unrelated to what you did today with the barn. You crossed a line. There was a better way to deal with everything but you're too much of a narrow-minded, narcissist to do anything that you didn't think of yourself." I snapped, halting Shane in his tracks as he had begun to walk away. "It didn't matter if we all thought Sophia was dead or not. She was a child, one of us, and we never stop looking for one of our own. Now stop trying to be the leader of this group, and stop trying to brag about what you've done for the group. You aren't half the leader that Rick is." Shane spun around on his heals, marching back and getting in my face.

"Man, you need to learn to keep your damn mouth shut. I thought that was one of the things they taught you in that stupid Marine base." Shane spat as Rick tried to shove his way in between us.

"You're one to talk, dumb ass." I snapped back.

"Don't you dare try to come off all 'holier than thou' to me. I bet your ass ran from the Marines when this broke out. I bet you're a deserter and high tailed it out of there on your buddies the minute things started looking bad." Shane taunted. He was right; I did desert them. I had no idea what happened to my unit when I left to go and get my sisters. I surged forward, intent on hitting him in the face when I felt a small hand grab my arm.

"Just let it go." I turned to Rachel, who looked at me intently. "Just walk away. Now." I took a few deep breaths, focusing on what Rachel was saying. I turned letting her pull me back toward the group to help pile up the walkers.

"That's right. Walk away. Let the her order you around like the little bitch you are." Shane yelled. I tried to pause in my walking, but Rachel yanked on my arm, making me move again.

"Don't listen to him. You know what they say about people. The louder and more they yell, the smaller their brains are." Rachel said in a loud enough voice that Shane would be able to hear her.

"What the hell did you just say, bitch?" Shane yelled. I could hear him storming after us. Rachel shoved her glasses up her nose before holding her middle finger in the air to him. "If Sophia had been alive, she would have been as scared to see you as she would have been to see Daryl. With your back-hick Mississippi was of havin' your Uncle screw his niece, or dad's screwin' their daughters. Tell me Marcus, how often have you been with each of your sisters." I knew he was trying to get a rise out of me as he ran up behind us, but I couldn't help it. Without pausing, I did a quick about face, swinging my fist around to connect to the side of Shane's face. Shane fell to the ground quickly. I could vaguely hear voices yelling my name in the background, but I blocked it out as I climbed on top of him, getting in a few more hits before arms wrapped around me, pulling me off. Shane didn't miss a beat as he jumped up, punching me good in the nose. I felt blood beginning to ooze down my face, my eyes watering from the hit, but a second hit didn't come. When I finally got my eyes cleared I saw Rick and Jimmy holding back a slightly bloody and bruised Shane. I turned my head, seeing T-dog as he held me. I glanced at Rachel, who was looking at me in concern and anger. I took a few deep breaths and counted to 10. I gave T-dog a nod. As soon as he let go of me, I stalked back to camp, entering the RV to get something to stop the bleeding. Daryl and Carol were sitting quietly inside.

"What happened to you?" Daryl asked, looking at my bloody nose in confusion. I pulled out a rag from under the sink.

"I got tired of Shane's big mouth." I simply answered. Daryl grunted in agreement as I stepped back out of the RV, heading to my tent instead.

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**Rachel's POV:**

I sighed as I helped Andrea, Jimmy, and T-dog start to dig the graves for the bodies. I was throwing the dirt down with probably more force than necessary.

"Ya alright, four eyes?" T-dog asked quietly from where he dug next to me. I didn't look at him as I answered.

"I'm fine." I answered shortly and just as quiet. Of course I'm fine. Marcus is only losing his temper. Princess blames herself for Sophia's death and there is nothing that we can say to convince her other wise. Shane an asshole who I wish would just leave. Oh, and on top of that, Hershel is probably going to kick us off of the farm because of said asshole.

"No woman every say's they're fine and means it. Even if you're not quite a woman yet." T-dog answered.

"No one's a kid anymore. Besides, 17 isn't that young." I responded. T-dog and Andrea snorted in amusement. I went quiet once Shane came back with his own shovel and began to help Andrea. We continued to work quietly as Lori brought us over some stones for markers. Once we had dug it deep enough, T-dog hopped out of the grave, offering me a hand to help pull me up.

"That's it." T-dog said. We waited patiently for everyone to gather before we stood around the grave. No one said anything. There was no scripture readings, no songs, nothing. We just lowered them down and covered their bodies, placing a rock at the head of each grave. Marcus and Princess stood by my side. Princess was eerily calm, not looking at anyone but at the smallest grave. Her normal curious nature subdued by her guilt. Marcus wore a mask to his emotions, however two torn pieces of rag were stuffed up each nostril of his now slightly crooked nose and stained red. It was a rather comical sight to see and I had to quickly look away before I started laughing. One by one, everyone tapered off. As we walked, Marcus winced, holding a hand to his head.

"Go rest, you big dumby. You'll probably have a head ache for the rest of the day." I told him, shoving him along toward the camp. He flicked me off, but didn't respond. I just chuckled at him. I walked with Rick, Andrea, T-dog, and Dale to the barn. We worked quietly as we threw the bodies in the back of the truck.

"If that barn had any more, we could've been overrun." Andrea commented as her and T-dog threw the last of the walkers into the truck.

"Good thing Shane did what he did when he did." T-dog commented. I sent him a disbelieving look.

"You can't tell me this was right." Dale spoke up.

"It wasn't" Rick was quick to answer. "It'll cost us with Hershel."

"He's grieving. He'll come around, see we had no choice." Andrea said.

"Don't be so naive. We had a choice to handle this another way, but instead Shane forced us into this one." I added. Andrea glared at me a little.

"Look, I shot, too. So did you, Rachel. This wasn't all Shane." Andrea added. My hackles bristled at the comparison.

"I shot because he let loose walkers that were coming at me. I didn't agree with how he handled this." I defended.

"Look, I got no qualms about it. Walkers in my backyard near people I care about?" T-dog glanced at me before shaking his and making a noise of disagreement. My stomach fluttered a little knowing that he cared about me.

"I'm not saying that we shouldn't have taken care of the problem, but creating a panic to –" Dale started to say, getting extremely worked up about it before Lori quickly cut him off.

"There's no point in arguing about it. It's done. There's nothing we can do about it." Lori reasoned.

"Better get moving." T-dog said, stirring us into motion as he and I climbed into the cab of the truck, while Andrea hopped onto the back. We were silent for a few seconds before T-dog broke it. "You were seriously ok with letting those things sit in the barn while we were here?"

"No." I said, making a scoffing noise as I moved my feet up to the dash. "I'll sleep good tonight knowing they aren't there."

"But…" T-dog prodded.

"It was just handled so wrong. It was disrespectful to Hershel and his family. I would give up a few good nights rest just to have been able to work this out so that we didn't have to leave." I looked to T-dog who was deep in thought. "Was causing all that panic to get rid of the walkers worth losing us being able to stay here on the farm? Somewhere that is safe?"

"Yes. I don't want those things anywhere near you." T-dog answered automatically. I couldn't help the smirk and blush that came over my face, but it didn't stop the worry from leaving my face either. "You're scared of being on the road again?" I hesitated but nodded. "Don't worry. Leave or stay, you'll be safe. You got me…and your brother. We aren't going to let anything happen to you." I felt my smile grow as I glanced at T-dog. T-dog sent me his own smirk.

* * *

**Marcus' POV:**

I let out a huff as I sat down against a tree. Daryl looked at me strangely as he continued to carve his arrow. I leaned my head back, closing my eyes as I took deep breaths through my mouth, trying to will away my headache.

"What you doin'?" Daryl finally asked.

"Sitting." I answered, not even opening my eyes.

"I meant why are you out here?" Daryl growled at me.

"Same reason you're out here. For peace and quiet. Now shut up and go back to making your pointy sticks." I snapped. The sound of walking finally made my eyes snap open. I turned in time to see Princess come and sit down at my side.

"I came out here to get away from everyone, not to be followed." Daryl snapped. Princess didn't respond as she leaned against me, looking at the sky. She grabbed my arm, wrapping it around herself like a protective blanket.

"I have a headache the size of the Pacific ocean, so let's play you favorite game of 'shut up and brood in silence'." I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. We stayed in blissful silence for another 10 minutes.

"How ya suppose to see the walkers with your eyes closed?" Daryl sassed at me. I smirked, never opening my eyes.

"That's what your for." I responded. Daryl let out a snort before the sound of his carving resumed. A few minutes later, steps brought me to open my eyes again.

"Moving to the suburbs?" Lori asked. Daryl didn't respond. "Listen, Beth's in some kind of catatonic shock. We need Hershel." I followed Lori's movements with my eyes, listening to her intently.

"Yeah. So what?" Daryl answered, not even looking up from his carving to talk to her.

"So I need you and Marcus to run into town real quick and bring him and Rick back." Lori asked. Daryl continued to not answer. "Daryl?"

"Your bitch went window-shopping. You want him? Fetch him yourself. I got better things to do." Daryl told her.

"Yeah, like making pointy twigs to poke at walkers with." Princess sassed, never moving her eyes from looking at the treetops. I snorted in amusement before groaning and grabbing my nose at the pain it caused me.

"What's the matter with you? Why would you be so selfish?" Lori asked him. Daryl's head snapped quickly toward her as he stood up.

"Selfish? Listen to me, Olive Oyl. I was out there looking for that little girl every single day. I took a bullet and an arrow in the process. Don't you tell me about me getting my hands dirty !" Daryl gestured with his knife, freaking out Lori in the process. Yeah, he probably should have set that down first. "You want those two idiots? Have a nice ride. I'm done looking for people." Lori turned to look at me. I nodded, despite the pain it caused. I stood up, groaning and holding my head at the sudden pressure change.

"Never mind, Marcus. You're still hurt. I'll find someone else." Lori patted my arm as she passed me. I glanced back toward the house.

"I'm going to check on Beth. See how bad she is." I spoke up. Daryl ignored me, and to my surprise Princess stayed where she was seated, leaning against the tree. I nudged her with my boot. "You comin'?" Princess shook her head as she pulled at the grass. "Really…you're not curious to see what new drama is unfolding at the house?" I asked in disbelief. Princes shook her head no again. That was a first. Princess was curious about everything. I opened my mouth to say something, but she finally turned to look at me. She gave me a serious stare with a fair amount of sass, as if saying, 'If you say the same thing again, I'm going to give you pink eye.' I held up my hands in surrender, chuckling a little before it turned into a groan.

"It's broken." Daryl spoke up.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Ma brother's would look that way after he got into fights. Come 'ere." He waved me over. I walked over and opened my mouth, but before I could speak Daryl reached up, twisting my nose back into place.

"Ahh! Fuckin' trees!" I yelled. I heard Princess laugh behind me, causing the corner of Daryl's mouth to curve in amusement. "You guys are assholes." I grumbled. I walked over to Princess. "Be alert when you walk back tonight. Try to be back before nightfall." I told her as I handed over a handgun.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry the update took so long! I know this chapter is short, but I will try and put up another chapter in the next day or two!**

**Thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews!**

**I posted another Walking Dead story that you guys should check out!**

* * *

**Princess' POV:**

I sat next to Carl at the dinner table, Rachel on my other side. Marcus sat on the other side of Carl, his still aching head in his hands.

"They should've been back by now." Andrea commented as she walked into the kitchen. I gave Carl a small smile as he poured me some water.

"Yeah. They just got holed up somewhere." Shane responded. I glanced at the man; unable to hide my smirk at the rather large shiner my brother had given him. "We'll head out first thing tomorrow." Shane said to T-dog and Marcus. T-dog nodded while Marcus gave him a thumbs up. Carl fidgeted nervously in his chair. "Carl, I want you to keep your head up, okay? Your old man, he's the toughest son of a-"

"No cussing in the house." Patricia snapped.

"Lori, dinner." Carol called to the other room.

"She's not in there." Maggie told her.

"Where is she?" Dale asked. Everyone went silent, not knowing the answer. Did she not tell anyone?

"Carl, when's the last time you saw your mom?" Shane asked him, suddenly going on alert.

"This after noon." He answered.

"She was worried about Rick, asked me to look in on Carl." Andrea added.

"Sh-she came to see Daryl and me." Marcus grumbled out as he continued to hold his head.

"And?" Shane snapped impatiently. Marcus just grimaced, seeming unable to finish his sentence.

"Lori asked them to go after Rick." I quickly spoke up, eyeing my brother with worry. "Daryl said no, and Marcus, well he looked like this so Lori told him never mind."

"She went after them herself?" Dale asked in disbelief.

"She didn't say that." Andrea responded.

"Nobody panic. Gonna be around here somewhere." Shane answered. We all got up from the table, meal forgotten. I stayed with Dale, Carl, and Andrea as the others went to check around the farm. Carl started cracking his knuckles, his entire body on edge. I quickly grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze to calm him down. Carl squeezed back.

"She's not at the barn." Shane yelled at us as he and Marcus came back. I always marveled at how guys could be pounding into each other with hate one minute, and then completely fine with each other the next.

"I checked the yards." T-dog called as he and Rachel came back.

"Well, where is she?" Carl demanded.

"She asked Daryl to go into town. Must've gone herself." Carol brought back up the information I had told them. Carl let out a whimpering noise from next to me before he dropped my hand and ran off. I quickly followed him as he ran toward the house. Just as I reached him, Shane jumped in one of the cars and sped off after her.

"Don't worry. Shane will find your mom and she'll be fine. And your dad survived a coma in the hospital for months before he made his way back to you. They're both gonna make it." I told him, taking his hand again and squeezing it. Carl held my hand tightly, nodding in agreement. "I need to go talk to Uncle Daryl. I'll be back in a little bit."

"Why do you call him Uncle Daryl now?" Carl asked as I started walking away. I threw a smile over my shoulder.

"Cause he acts like one." I responded. I ran off through the field, my hand on the handle of my knife. I ran up to the fire watching from a distance as Uncle Daryl yelled at Carol.

"If you spent half your time minding your daughter's business instead of sticking your nose in everybody else's she'd still be alive!" Uncle Daryl growled at Carol.

"Go ahead." Carol told him softly.

"Go ahead and what? Man, just go! I don't want you here!" Uncle Daryl snapped. When Carol didn't leave, he continued to dig in. "You're a real piece of work, lady. What, are you gonna make this about my daddy or some crap like that? Pfft! Man, you don't know jack. You're afraid. You're afraid 'cause you're all alone. You got no husband, no daughter. You don't know what to do with yourself. You ain't my problem! Sophia wasn't mine! All you had to do was keep an eye on her!" Uncle Daryl took a step forward, causing Carol to flinch in habit. Uncle Daryl took a step back then, just staring at Carol as the woman did her best not to cry. I walked forward, letting my presence be known. I gave Carol a hug around the middle, glaring at Uncle Daryl.

"She's not alone. She has all of us." I snapped. Carol gave me a squeeze back before letting go and heading back toward the group. I continued to glare at Uncle Daryl.

"Stop looking at me like that, runt." Uncle Daryl growled out. I stuck my hands on my hip.

"I wouldn't be looking at you like this if you weren't throwing a temper tantrum worse than a two year old." I snapped.

"What are you goin' on about?" Uncle Daryl snapped back.

"Sophia wasn't Carol's fault. It wasn't Rick's and it sure as hell wasn't yours. It was Sophia's and mine. I know that, no matter how much you guys try to tell me differently. I'll move on eventually, learn for the next time. If something had happened to Lori tonight, it would have been on you for not going yourself, stopping her, or tagging along. Stop trying to make yourself the odd man out. You're apart of this group. We help each other. Stop trying to act like you don't care." I let out a breath after my rant. Uncle Daryl stared at me for a second.

"I could've lived with it." Uncle Daryl answered after a few minutes of silence. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Could you have lived with letting a pregnant woman die?" I asked. Surprise came over his face then. I turned walking back to camp. I had barely gone a forth of the way when I heard moaning. I turned to the sound, seeing a walker come toward me. Don't panic. Stay calm. I pulled out my knife, waiting for it to get close enough. Once it did, I grabbed it, pulling it down to my level and stabbed it in the head. I took a deep breath as it fell to the ground. More growling sounded behind me. I whipped around in time to see the walker that was right behind me get an arrow through its head. It dropped, revealing Uncle Daryl with his crossbow. "Told you, ya cared." I sassed. Uncle Daryl rolled his eyes at me, yanking the arrow out as he passed by.

"Go on. I'm walkin' ya back." Daryl gave me a tiny push in the direction of the farm.

* * *

The next morning came sooner than I wished it would. Rick, Hershel, and Glenn weren't back yet. Shane gathered T-dog, Uncle Daryl, Marcus, Rachel, and Andrea to go out looking for them. Marcus' face was still pale, and he looked like he was holding in a grimace as he helped the others pack the guns into the back of the car. I stood on the side watching.

"Still got that headache?" Uncle Daryl asked Marcus. Marcus grunted in response.

"Are you sure you can be heading out here? Maybe you should be staying here and resting." Shane offered up.

"I'm fine." Marcus grumbled. The sound of a truck pulling up drew us from our thoughts. We ran over to it as Rick, Glenn, and Hershel got out. Maggie, Lori, and Carl ran to greet them. Glenn seemed to brush Maggie off, as he came over to Marcus, and me. Glenn gave Rachel a side hug on his way over to us.

"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery." Hershel spoke loudly. I stood beside Marcus, peering in the truck at what looked like another person. Glenn gave Marcus a pat on the back as he pulled me in for a hug.

"Who the hell is that?" T-dog asked, drawing everyone else's attention to the person.

"That's Randall." Glenn answered, still hugging me. The guy was blindfolded and looked to be passed out. The others started to move forward slowly to check the kid out. That's when I noticed Marcus swaying.

"Marcus? What's wrong?" I asked, making everyone stop in their walking. Marcus didn't answer. Instead, he doubled over, barfing right at my feet. When he finished, he swayed a bit more before falling toward me. I grunted as I caught him, but started sinking immediately.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Glenn said, grabbing Marcus from his armpits to heave him off me. Marcus' head rolled to the side in his unconscious state. "He's out cold. What's wrong with him?"

"He's had a headache since his fight with Shane yesterday." Rachel said from behind me, her voice shaky.

"Let's get him inside." Rick said. T-dog stepped forward, grabbing onto the pits of Marcus' knees and began carrying him inside.

"We don't have anymore beds since daddy's going to use the other for surgery. Just lay him next to Beth." Maggie told them. Rachel took my hand, following me into the room. They easily laid Marcus on the bed, turning his head to the side incase he threw up. Rachel pulled up a chair next to the bed and pulled me into her lap. We waited as Hershel did surgery on Randall.

"We got pinned down in town. Two guys came in asking about the farm, trying to make us take them here. They pulled a gun on us and we shot both of them. Three more came out and it was a firefight. One went down. Randall fell, got his leg speared by a fence. The other man left him for dead when the walkers started coming from the noise. We couldn't just leave him behind." We heard Rick say from the other room. "He would've bled out, if he lived that long."

"It's gotten bad in town." Glenn responded softly. I could tell something was wrong with Glenn, but I couldn't bring myself to worry about anybody but Marcus.

"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked.

"I repaired his calf muscle as best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage. Won't be on his feet for a least a week." I heard Hershel tell the others.

"When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way." Rick told everyone.

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" Andrea asked.

"He'll have a fighting chance." Rick told her.

"Just gonna let him go? He knows where we are." Shane challenged, as always.

"He was blindfolded the whole way here. He's not a threat." Rick dismissed.

"Not a threat. How many of them were there? You killed three of their men, you took one of them hostage, but they just ain't gonna come looking for him?" Shane mouthed off.

"They left him for dead. No one is looking." Rick practically yelled at him. Leave it to Shane to try and rile everyone up.

"We should still post a guard." T-dog brought up.

"He's out cold right now, will be for hours." Hershel told everyone.

"I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy. Look at this, folks, we back in Fantasyland." Shane sarcastically yelled.

"Stupid blow hard. Can't he shut up for one damn minute?" Rachel snapped under her breath. I let out a small chuckle. It always amused me when Rachel decided to curse.

"You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet. Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all. This is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor, keep your mouth shut." Hershel snapped. Oh snap. You tell him, Hershel.

"Look, we're not gonna do anything about it today. Let's just cool off." Rick responded. A few seconds later Hershel walked into the room. He opened Marcus' eyes, shinning a light into them.

"When did the headache start?" Hershel asked.

"He got into a fist fight yesterday with Shane after the barn. It started right after that." Rachel answered, absentmindedly taking down my ponytail and running her fingers through my hair.

"Did he get any blows to the head?" Hershel asked, feeling around Marcus' skull. Marcus' face winced when his fingers skimmed over the side of his head.

"Yeah, twice. Once in the nose and a second time on the side of his head." Rachel answered. Hershel nodded.

"Sounds about right. He has a minor concussion. His pupils aren't blown so it's not too bad. If he had rested yesterday and today I doubt he would have thrown up or passed out. He's a little dehydrated as well. We'll hook an IV up to him and let him rest here for the next day. He should be fine." Hershel told us. I released a breath I didn't know I had been holding as Hershel went to the other side of the bed to check on Beth. Marcus' dirty blonde hair was getting long, now reaching just past the bottom of his ears. It seemed the longer it got, the more his curls would straighten out. I put my hair back up in a messy but and climbed into bed lying halfway on top of Marcus. This is where I was saying until he woke up.


	17. Chapter 17

**I know I'm a horrible person for going so long between updates. Blame my professors and the fact that they decided to pile on all the work at the same time. Hopefully I will be able to do updates more regularly now. Hope the longer chapter helps in the forgiveness process.**

**Thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! You guys are the best! We are almost done with Season 2 for this story! Who else watched the first episode of season 6 last night! Can we talk about this shows love for cliff hangers?**

* * *

** Marcus' POV:**

As Princess and I walked by the house, Blade trotting at our heals, I heard raised voices inside.

"Where's the key?" Lori asked in a panic. I quickly walked up the stairs, heading inside.

"I don't know," Maggie replied. I walked in the room where Beth had been staying, seeing Lori and Maggie search the room as Beth's sobs came from the bathroom. Without another word I walked forward, kicking the door three times by the doorknob till it swung open. When the door opened, Beth turned around to us, crying. The mirror was broken and blood was dripping from her wrist.

"I'm sorry," Beth whimpered. Lori and I stared at each other as Maggie rushed in for her sister. I felt a hand loop their fingers through my belt loop. I glanced down; surprised that I had forgotten Princess was with me. I put my hand on her head, pulling her in close to my side.

"Princess, go get Hershel from the barn," I told her, my eyes never leaving Beth. I felt her head nod as she ran from the room. As Maggie helped Beth to the bed, I grabbed more towels from the bathroom, bringing them to press onto the wound. Despite his old age, it didn't take long for Hershel to get to the house.

"Maggie, get my medical bag," Hershel told her. She nodded, leaving me to hold the towel. Beth still let out the occasional sob as tears streamed down his face. Hershel glanced at the broken bathroom door. "Thank you." I nodded in response. Maggie brought the bag back in. I moved to the side, pulling up a chair beside the bed. Princess plopped down in my lap, leaning her head back against my shoulder as Blade jumped in her lap. Maggie looked out the window, becoming angry at what she saw. She stormed out of the room, Lori hot on her heals.

"You don't have to stay," Beth whispered out. I looked down at the top of Princess' head. Her tight curly blonde hair was pulled up in a bun, but I could already tell that her curls were growing looser the older she got, beginning to look like Rachel's.

"Nah, we've slept together twice now. I can't abandon my bed partner like that," I joked. Beth blushed, while Hershel sent me a disapproving look. "Sorry, I make inappropriate humor when I'm anxious."

"Really? I don't think anyone noticed," Princess spoke up in her normal voice, but I knew she was making fun of me. Beth let out a little giggle while Hershel's mouth moved into a small smile. I thumped Princess on the back of the ear, causing her to squirm and grab my hands, bringing them around my middle so I could hold onto her better.

* * *

**Princess' POV:**

I grabbed the hairbrush from beside Beth's bed, bringing it down with me to where she was staying. Marcus still sat by her bed, keeping her company.

"Sit up," I ordered. Beth obeyed, allowing me to move behind her. I pulled the hair tie from her hair, brushing out the knots. Blade jumped on the bed, curling up to sit next to Beth.

"You can't braid hair," Marcus stated. I stuck my tongue out at him, making him roll his eyes.

"I can't braid hair as fancy as Rachel, but I can braid hair," I insisted, flipping Glenn's hat backward so that it wasn't in my way. Marcus held up his hands in surrender, looking pretty amused by it all.

"I'm sure it will be perfect," Beth told me, sending me a smile over her shoulder. I smiled back as I quickly began to braid her hair in a French braid while she petted Blade. Blade moved from beside her to sit in her lap, lavishing in the petting.

"There, all done," I smiled at my own handy work. I wasn't half bad at this. I was broken from my pondering by the sound of running feet. Carl appeared in the doorway.

"Princess, come on!" Carl motioned for me, not even waiting to see if I was coming before he began to run back outside. I glanced at Marcus, who nodded at me to go on. I jumped up from the bed, running after him.

"So he's a kid?" I heard Carl ask Shane as I ran up to the two of them. Shane glanced at me as I fell into stride next to Carl.

"He ain't a kid. That was a figure of speech," Shane answered.

"Can we see him?" Carl asked.

"No," Shane snapped, glancing at the two of us. "Look, guys, this is…this is grown-up stuff, all right? You two just…y'all just let us handle this." Carl and I watched as Shane walked away.

"Follow me," Carl whispered. I eyed Carl strangely as we followed. Where were we going? When we got to the back of the shed that the prisoner was being held in, I noticed a hole in the roof. Carl smiled mischievously at me as he began to climb.

"Carl! We're going to get in trouble," I whispered. Carl continued to climb before pausing at the top to look at me.

"What are you, chicken?" Carl whispered back. Oh no he didn't. I quickly began to climb up after him, making my way into the rafters of the building. I sat quietly on the beam next to Carl as we stared at the prisoner. After just a few seconds of staring, the prisoner finally noticed us. The guy was beat up on his face and chained to the wall. He looked about Marcus' age.

"Hey," he whispered to us. "Y'all got some sweet hats. I'm Randall. What's y'alls name?" I nervously scratched my head, moving Glenn's hat so that the bill was over my face again. "The sheriff guy, that your dad?" Randall asked Carl. I glanced at my friend, who was looking with a hard expression to Randall. "I like him. Yeah, he's a good guy. I can tell." Randall seemed desperate. Marcus' words from when I was younger floated through my head. 'Desperate people are dangerous, steer clear of them'. "Your mom out here, too? You're lucky you still got your family. I lost mine." I felt a twinge of sadness for the guy. Maybe he did just fall in with the wrong people. "Hey, I don't know what they've been sayin' about me, but I didn't do nothing. I swear." Carl got up, heading toward the latter that led down from the rafters. I hesitantly got up, following him. "Your dad was gonna let me go till his friend started fighting with him." Shane and Rick were fighting? That would explain all the cuts and bruises on each other's face. "It got pretty bad. I was kinda worried. My camp, we got lots of supplies. You two help me, I'll take you two and your folks back to my people. We'll take good care of you. Keep you safe. You just got to help me get out of here, okay?" Carl took slow small steps forward. I clutched the back of his shirt, hiding partially behind him. "Just help me pick these locks or find the key, okay? Come on, please? Please?" We were close enough to Randall now that we could smell is unwashed stench. I clutched Carl's shirt tighter, yanking it back a little so he would stop walking. He did, glancing over his shoulder to look at me. We both jumped a little as the door to the shed opened.

"What the hell are you two doing in here? What did you say to them?" Shane growled. "What did you say to them, huh?"

"I didn't say nothing," Randall begged as Shane shoved him against the wall and put a gun to his head.

"I will shoot you where you sit," Shane threatened him.

"Okay, Shane, not now," Andrea tried to pull him back from the ledge, but it didn't seem to be working.

"Open your mouth," Shane growled out, trying to shove his gun inside, but Randall kept his mouth closed. "You like talking, man? You like talking?!"

"He didn't say anything," I spoke up, though it sounded more like a squeak. Shane whirled around to Carl and I. I cowered behind Carl, glancing at Randall who sent me a small thankful smile.

"Get your asses out this door. Let's go," Shane growled, grabbing both Carl and I by the back of the neck. "What the hell you doing?"

"Please don't tell my parents," Carl begged, both of us stumbling a bit as Shane released us rather forcefully. "She was just following me to make sure I was ok." Something inside of me fluttered as Carl jumped to cover for me.

"Carl, that ain't cool, man. You could've gotten hurt in there or gotten her hurt," Shane's tone quieted down.

"I can handle myself. And so can Princess," Carl defended.

"Let me tell you something, you do not go near him again. Do you hear me?" Shane growled, getting in Carl's face. "Damn it."

"You won't tell my parents, will you?" Carl asked as I continued to hide slightly behind him, trying to avoid Shane's wrath.

"Carl, man, it ain't about getting in trouble, okay?" Shane glanced at me, keeping eye contact as he spoke again. "A guy like that, he will say anything to you. He'll try to make you feel sorry for him. He'll try to make you get your guard down. You let your guard down out here, people die. Now, just…do me a favor, man. Go find your ma. Go on. And Princess just go somewhere that you wont get into trouble." I ran off through the field, heading for Uncle Daryl's camp. When I was almost there, I spotted Dale. I quickly ran to his side.

"What are you up to, Ms. Princess?" Dale asked, swinging a stick as he smiled at me. I shrugged.

"Just decided to see what Uncle Daryl was doing," I answered. Dale looked at me like he was thinking hard before smiling.

"Where's Blade?" Dale asked me. I threw a thumb over my shoulder.

"He's back at the house keeping Beth company," I answered. Dale nodded in response before smacking Glenn's hat that I was wearing.

"Looks better on you than it does on him," Dale joked. I laughed as we finally reached Uncle Daryl's camp.

"The whole point of me coming here is to get away from you people," Daryl snapped at the two of us.

"Gonna take more than that," Dale commented. I stayed next to Dale, watching Uncle Daryl pick out the arrow's he had made.

"Carol send you?" Uncle Daryl asked, continuing to put arrows in the holster for his crossbow.

"Carol's not the only one that's concerned about you, your new role in the group," Dale answered.

"Oh, man, I don't need my head shrunk. This group's broken. I'm better off fending for myself," Uncle Daryl answered.

"You act like you don't care," Dale asked, almost confused.

"Yeah, it's 'cause I don't," Uncle Daryl answered, pulling on his jacket.

"So live or die, you don't care what happens to Randall?" Dale asked him. I looked back to Uncle Daryl for an answer.

"Nope," Uncle Daryl deadpanned. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Then why not stand with me, try to save the kid's life, if it really doesn't matter one way or the other?" Dale bargained.

"Didn't peg you for a desperate son o' a bitch," Uncle Daryl grumbled.

"Your opinion makes a difference," Dale told him.

"Man, ain't nobody looking at me for nothing," Uncle grabbed his bow, starting to walk away.

"You sure about that Uncle Daryl?" I glanced at Dale, who was looking pointedly at Uncle Daryl. When I looked back, Uncle Daryl had stopped walking and was looking at me. "You can bet your ass that Rachel and Marcus are watching just as hard. Carol does, too and I am right now. And you obviously have Rick's ear."

"Rick just looks to Shane. Let him," Daryl snapped, sounding slightly jealous of Shane.

"You cared about what happened to Sophia and Princess…cared what it meant to the group. Torturing people?" My head whipped around to look at Uncle Daryl, who quickly moved his gaze away from me. When did he torture someone…was that why Randall was so beat up? I glanced at his knuckles, noting the tell signs of punching someone. "That isn't you. You're a decent man. So is Rick. Shane is different."

"Why's that? 'Cause he killed Otis?" Uncle Daryl asked. I breathed in a little deeper in my nose. Uncle Daryl glanced at me before looking back to Dale.

"He tell you that?" Dale asked.

"He told some story, how Otis covered him, saved his ass. He showed up with the dead guy's gun. Rick ain't stupid. If he didn't figure that out, it's 'cause he didn't wanna," Uncle Daryl grumbled. I suddenly felt much wearier of Shane. "It's like I said, group's broken." I watched with Dale as Uncle Daryl walked off. I sat down next to his woodpile, pulling out my knife and apiece of wood to start whittling. I sat one of the arrows he had made in front of me to try and mimic it. Somewhere during that time, Dale left, I finished whittling four pieces of wood, and Carl showed up. I watched as he looked wearily at the squirrel skin and walker ears that hung from a tree.

"What are you doing?" Carl asked. I shrugged, continuing to whittle at the wood. I watched as Carl walked over to Uncle Daryl's bike, pretending to ride it.

"Uncle Daryl doesn't like for people to touch his stuff, especially his bike," I told him. Carl just rolled his eyes at me as he moved to the satchel that was on the side of the bike. "Carl, he really doesn't like for people to look through his stuff either." Again, Carl rolled his eyes at me and ignored me, moving to the other satchel. "Carl!"

"Do you always do what your told?" Carl challenged, pulling Uncle Daryl's handgun from his back. I tossed the stick aside, moving to stand next to him.

"I do when it's about safety or other people's belongings. You already got me in trouble once today, I'm not about to let it happen again," I snapped.

"Then go away," Carl snapped, shoving the gun in his jeans as he moved to the forest. I groaned, following him in the woods. He was going to get us killed.

"I was the last one at Uncle Daryl's camp. Who do you think he's gonna blame for his gun going missing?" I snapped. Carl rolled his eyes at me.

"I'll put it back before he gets back," Carl answered, pausing for a second to look at the river. I followed his gaze, seeing a walker stuck in the mud.

"We should go back," I said, eyeing the walker wearily. I knew I could kill it, but it still made me skittish to take one down when Marcus or Rachel wasn't near by to save me just in case something went wrong.

"It's stuck, it wont get us," Carl answered, moving closer so that we were standing on the edge of the river bank. Carl leaned down, picking up a rock and chucking it at the walker.

"Stop it, that's cruel," I said, grabbing Carl's arm to stop him from throwing the rock.

"These things eat us. They killed Sophia," Carl snapped, glaring at me. I rolled my eyes.

"I know that, but they used to be people. The respectful thing to do is to just put the person out of their misery," I responded. Carl turned back to the walker, staring at it in concentration. Suddenly Carl ran across the log that went over the river, now standing on the same side as the stuck walker. "Carl! Are you crazy? You're gonna get yourself killed."

"It's stuck remember. I'll be fine! Besides, I know how to shoot now," Carl reasoned, pulling out his gun and training it on the walker. I hesitated to run across, debating what I should do as Carl inched forward to try and get a good shot. Suddenly one of the walker's feet shot free, making him able to lunge for Carl. The walker knocked the gun out of Carl's hand, and sent him sprawling to the ground with a yell.

"Carl!" I yelled, running across the tree bridge to Carl's aide. I grabbed his arm, pulling him back from the walker's grasp as he scrambled to do the same. As soon as he was free, Carl grabbed my arm, yanking me with him as he ran. "But we didn't kill it! And didn't you leave Uncle Daryl's gun back there?" Carl paused, letting go of my arm. His eyes were still wide with fear.

"I'm not going back there. If you want it so bad, you go get it," Carl snapped before continuing in his run. I hesitated, before running after Carl.

* * *

**Rachel's POV:**

"Princess, why are you…" I paused, taking in my slightly mud covered sister and Carl, who was also covered in mud. "Never mind, I don't want to know. Go sit with Beth till this is over, and send out Marcus." Princess nodded, running inside. I followed her in, moving to stand between Glenn and Dale. A few seconds later, Marcus joined me there. There was a long pregnant pause where no one said anything. I couldn't believe we were about to kill this kid just because we didn't know them. What if that had been my siblings and I?

"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?" Glenn asked from next to me.

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.

"How about majority rules?" Lori offered up.

"Well, let's just see where everybody stands then we can talk through the options," Rick told us.

"The way I see it, there's only one way to move forward," Shane spoke up. I rolled my eyes at the man.

"Killing him, right?" Dale snapped. "I mean, why even bother to take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."

"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I want to know," Rick told us.

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group…maybe just me and Glenn," Dale told them.

"Me, too." I spoke up. Dale looked at me gratefully.

"Look, I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this…" Glenn began.

"They've got you scared," Dale argued.

"He's not one of us. And we've…we've lost too many people already," Glenn answered. Well if he was going with that argument…

"We weren't apart of the group either," I answered, throwing my thumb over my shoulder to Marcus. "And now you're our brother."

"How bout you? Do you agree with this?" Dale asked Maggie, knowing she could sway Glenn.

"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" Maggie asked Rick.

"Just another mouth to feed," Daryl answered.

"It may be a lean winter," Hershel added.

"We could ration better," Lori offered.

"Well, he could be an asset," Dale defended. "Give him a chance to prove himself."

"Put him to work?" Glenn asked.

"We're not letting him walk around," Rick answered, quickly shooting down the idea.

"We could put an escort on him," Maggie brought up. I knew there was a reason I liked her.

"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane sneered.

"I will," Dale answered.

"Me, too." I spoke up. Shane glared at Dale and I.

"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy," Rick spoke up, effectively ending the argument.

"He's right. I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up," Lori answered.

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, and sentence him to hard labor," Andrea spoke up.

"Look, say we let him join us, right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his 30 men," Shane reasoned. I shivered at the thought.

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt?" Dale snapped. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."

"Oh, my God." Shane groaned.

"Could you drive him further out? Leave him like you planned?" Hershel asked Rick.

"You barely came back this time. There are walkers. You could break down. You could get lost," Lori listed.

"Or get ambushed," Daryl added.

"They're right. We should not put our own people at risk," Glenn answered.

"If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would he suffer?" Patricia asked.

"We could hang him, right? Just snap his neck." Shane offered. I swallowed the vomit that threatened to come up at the thought.

"I thought about that. Shooting may be more humane," Rick told us. It was quiet for a few seconds.

"What about the body? Do we bury him?" T-dog asked. He sent me a slightly apologetic look. I just shook my head.

"Hold, on, hold, on. You're talking about this like it's already decided," Dale quickly tried to steer the conversation around.

"You've been talking all day, going around in circles. You just wanna go around in circles again?" Daryl asked.

"This is a young man's life and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation!" Dale yelled. He glanced at Marcus. "What about Princess?" Marcus' head shot up from next to me. He glared at Dale.

"What about her?" He snapped.

"That little girl follows your every move, listens to everything you say, and mimics everything you do, whether you want her to or not. Hell, she bit the head off of a snake a few weeks ago just because you told her to. If you go along with this, she's gonna see that and mimic it. You're telling her that killing people is ok," Dale reasoned with him. Marcus crossed his arms, turning to look at me. I sent him a stare, letting him know that I agreed with every word that Dale said. He quickly looked away.

"She's always placed you on a pedal stool. You know she's listening into this conversation. She's always listening. She's going to hear how you didn't say a word," I spoke quietly, but everyone could still hear me. Marcus scrubbed a hand down his face, still not looking at me.

"Better to fall from the pedal stool then for her to die," Marcus answered quietly. There was another pregnant pause. I shook my head in shame, no longer able to look at Marcus.

"Is this what its come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him?" Dale snapped. "You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

"We all know what needs to be done," Shane spoke in a low voice.

"No, Dale is right. We can't leave any stone unturned here," Rick reasoned.

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea cut off.

"Let Rick finish," Lori snapped.

"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could," Andrea told us, ignoring Lori.

"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled.

"We are," Rick tried to calm him down.

"Stop it, just stop it. I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please, decide…either of you, both of you…but leave me out," Carol told everyone.

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself…there's no difference," Dale declared.

"All right, that's enough," Rick stepped in. "Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance." Maggie and Patricia sat down. No one made eye contact with one another. I could feel Marcus' gaze on me, but I stared pointedly at my feet.

"You once said that we don't kill the living," Dale tried to reason.

"Well, that was before the living tried to kill us," Rick answered.

"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were…the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's…harsh. It's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in and I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please. Let's just do what's right," Dale begged, his voice breaking as his eyes filled with tears. His hands rung his hat nervously. No one answered him. "Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with Rachel and I?" There was a pregnant pause. I looked to Marcus, but he quickly looked away from me.

"He's right," Andrea spoke up. "We should try to find another way."

"Anybody else?" Rick asked. No one answered.

"Are y'all gonna watch, too?" Dale mocked the others. "No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Whoa. I won't be a party to it." Dale walked off, pausing by Daryl. "This group is broken." I waited a few seconds. Seeing Princess poke her head around the corner, I couldn't take being in this room any more. I walked out too, grabbing Princess' hand as I dragged her along, Blade trotting out behind us.

"Shane, Daryl, Marcus, and I will take him to the barn…" I couldn't hear Rick's voice anymore as I stormed to our campsite. The sun finally set as the others slowly made their way out of the house. I watched as Shane, Daryl, Marcus, and Rick headed for the shed instead of the campsite like the others. None of the other members of the group came to talk to us. They all avoided my eye contact.

"Where's bubba and Uncle Daryl going?" Princess asked me, looking at the group of men as they disappeared from site.

"Did you not hear the meeting?" I asked in disbelief. Princess shrugged.

"Marcus told me to keep Beth company. I only came out when I heard Dale yelling and by then I couldn't figure out what you guys were arguing about. Who's dying?" I looked at Princess for a moment, debating on what to tell her. I glanced at her knife that was hooked onto her belt.

"Why don't you go snoop and find out," I answered. Princess looked at me confused, but ran off after them. A few seconds later T-dog came to my side.

"I just don't want him hurting you. Can you understand that at least?" I sighed, tired of having this same fight with T-dog today.

"Don't you dare use me as an excuse to kill people," I growled out lowly, shoving my glasses up my nose as they fell. T-dog sighed.

"You gonna still talk to me after this?" T-dog asked. What he was really asking was if I would still feel the same way about him. I looked over his face. Could I really be mad at someone who thought they were doing the right thing to keep me safe? My brain was too tired to figure out the answer.

"I'm too tired to answer that question. But the odds are in your favor," I answered, sitting down in a chair by the dying fire. T-dog smirked as he sat down next to me. He took his hand in mine, rubbing the back of it comfortingly. I blushed despite myself. I stood when I saw Marcus storming over, Princess being dragged by her hand. Rick was bringing Carl over in much the same way. I dropped T-dog's hand quickly.

"I thought you were going to watch her. What the hell was she doing by the barn?" Marcus snapped.

"She wanted to see what bubba was up to," I snapped back. Marcus sighed, rubbing a hand up and down his face furiously.

"Fine," Marcus snapped. "I can't take the guilt trips anymore. I'll help you fight to keep him alive." I smiled at Marcus, relieved to finally be on the same argument as my best friend again. Marcus narrowed his eyes to look between T-dog and I. "And don't think I didn't see that. What the hell is going on with you two?" I felt my blush grow as I opened and closed my mouth a few times. Before I could answer though, a scream of horror echoed around us. Blade barked at the noise, taking off in that direction.

"T-dog, get a shotgun now!" Rick yelled at us. T-dog ran to the RV to grab a gun. Marcus pulled out his knife, running toward the noise. I followed quickly, grabbing Princess' hand to keep her close once I noticed she was running with me.

"Dale!" Andrea yelled as we all ran through the pasture trying to find the man. His screaming suddenly grew worse.

"Help! Over here!" Daryl yelled. We stopped near Dale, his stomach was torn open, intestines falling out of his body. I gagged, turning away. Princess looked on with wide eyes. Blade stood beside the dead walker, continuing to bark.

"Get Hershel!" Rick yelled. I could make out the older mans out line as he ran, already on his way from the screaming. Princess walked over to the walker's corpse. I saw a flash of recognition as she walked back over to me.

"What happened?" Hershel asked, kneeling beside Dale. Princess came back to me, holding on around my waist as her breaths came in fast, panicked bursts, much like my own.

"Can we move him?" Rick asked.

"He wont make the trip," Hershel replied.

"Then we'll do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house," Rick yelled.

"Rick," Hershel yelled. Nothing was said for a second but I could tell that Hershel was giving the worst news possible. Dale couldn't be saved.

"No!" Rick yelled. Sobs filled the air. I still couldn't turn around. I might hurl if I did. I held in my own tears even as I felt Princess' start to wet my shirt.

"He's suffering," Andrea told us. "Do something!" There was a long pause. So long I glanced over my shoulder. Rick was holding the gun toward Dale, but didn't seem able to make the shot that would put him out of his misery and end his life. Marcus walked to his side, taking the gun from Rick.

"It's alright. I've had to do this before," Marcus quietly soothed him. We watched as Marcus moved forward, a hard military mask on his face as he knelt down next to Dale. Marcus put the gun to Dale's forehead as Daryl stepped forward, placing a hand on Marcus' shoulder.

"Sorry, brother," Daryl muttered. I quickly moved my hands to cover Princesses ears. The shot rang through the air, Princess clutching me tighter as she cried harder. Blade finally stopped barking. For half a second I had the strange thought that Marcus had shot Blade instead. But I felt Blade's soft fur brush up against my leg. I let a few of my own tears escape as Marcus came over to us, the hard mask still on his face. He drew us into his body, and let us both cry there.

* * *

**In case some of you don't know, "bubba" is something that southerns call there brothers...though it can also just be a nickname for a friend...and sometimes people use it as real names...I digress. I will probably also use the term "sissy" which is another term for sister.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry it has been so long for an update. It's almost Thanksgiving break and then Christmas Break. I plan to do a lot of writing then. Season 2 is almost done for this story! If you read my other stories, I am going to try and have them all updated this week, so keep an eye out.**

**Thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews! You guys are awesome!**

* * *

**Marcus' POV:**

Dale was dead now. I put him out of his misery. I felt no remorse for helping a friend out of pain, but I was missing Dale's guidance that he always gave, wanted or unwanted. Rick declared that we were going to make the group whole again in memory of Dale. Princess was acting closed off again, like she did after we couldn't find Sophia. Daryl, Shane, T-dog, Rachel, Andrea, and I fixed the hole in the fence that the walkers were getting in through. I sat on the truck bed, Rachel beside me as we listened into Rick talking to Hershel and Maggie.

"Gonna be tight, 14 people in one house," Rick tried to warn him.

"Don't worry about that. With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up…" Hershel trailed off.

"With 50 head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell," Maggie finished for him. Glenn walked up with a crate to put in the back of the truck. Rachel and I hopped up. I guess we should start packing out things. I motioned for Rachel to follow me.

"Alright, let's move the vehicles so they're facing out toward the road," Rick began listing the things to fortify this place. I listened as I walked to our small tent. "We'll build a look out on the windmill and another in the barn loft. That should give us sightlines both sides of the property. T-dog, you take the perimeter around the house. Keep track of everyone coming and going." Princess came out of the tent, her rat dog following her. She had already packed our few items away into our bags. She tossed the bags out of our tent so that it was empty. Daryl walked by as we began taking it down.

"Hey." I smacked Daryl's arm, making the man pause to look at me. "You should move into the house with all of us." Daryl looked away toward his camp before nodding.

"Marcus. I need you, Daryl, and T-dog running double duty on perimeter and standing guard till we take Randal out," Rick called to me as I folded the tent up. I nodded in agreement. I finished packing the tent, throwing it in the RV with the others before grabbing my satchel and a few other peoples and heading toward the house. Rachel, Princess, and the rat dog followed me.

"Let's pick an area where we're all close together. I've gotten too used to Marcus' snoring to sleep without it," Rachel spoke as we walked.

"I don't snore," I defended myself. Rachel just rolled her eyes at me.

"I don't know if I'd call it snoring so much you sound like a horse snorting," Princess spoke up.

"Yes! That's exactly it. I just couldn't find the words for it," Rachel laughed. I looked at the two of them as we walked up the porch steps.

"I do not snore like a horse snorting! I don't snore at all!" I held open the door for Glenn as he walked out of the house.

"Yes you do," Glenn spoke up as he walked by us, heading back to help grab the last of the bags. Rachel and Princess began laughing as they walked inside. The rat dog pranced in after them.

"You're supposed to take my side in the arguments against our sisters. It's in the brother's handbook!" I yelled after Glenn, who just turned around, sending me a smirk.

"Guess you should've given me a copy of the handbook then," Glenn called back. I rolled my eyes, following my sisters inside.

"Men are in there," Lori told me, pointing to the dinning area. "Females are in the sitting area."

"We'll take the walls next to each other, that way we're still close by," Rachel spoke up. I nodded, following her led as I threw my stuff down, sitting by my pack. I watched as Princess took off her green satchel.

"You should start keeping that on you at all times again," I told her. Princess gave me a questioning look. I ran my fingers through my grimy, long hair. "It's just this feeling, like shits about to hit the fan." Princess' face scrunched up in concern. "I'm probably just paranoid, but let me be." I watched as she put the satchel back on and Glenn entered the room.

"You can put your stuff upstairs in my room," Maggie told him.

"With your dad in the house?" Glenn questioned. Maggie smiled warmly at him, moving forward to talk, but Glenn didn't giver her the chance. "I just…I'm just gonna put my stuff over there with Marcus." Maggie's smile turned dejected as she turned to leave. Glenn shuffled over to me, throwing the guitar in my lap.

"What the hell are you doing man?" I asked. Glenn looked at me in confusion. "Why the hell are you pushing Maggie away?"

"She…she said she loved me," Glenn confessed in a whisper, like it was the darkest secret someone could have admitted to.

"That's great. Do you not feel the same way or something?" I asked. Glenn sighed, shaking his head.

"It's not that. It's…she's…we just feel that way because we feel like we're the last people we're gonna find that's our own age," Glenn tried to dismiss.

"What am I? Road kill? What about Beth and Rachel?" I inquired. Glenn gave me a disgusted look when I listed Rachel's name. I waved my head in dismissal. "Alright, fine, I'll give you Rachel. But the point is, she had other options, you had other options. You both chose each other. Those feelings are real. Don't dismiss something like that."

"But that's just it. After she told me and I went to the bar to get Hershel, we were attacked. I didn't fight back because I was frozen in fear of losing Maggie. She's…it's…we cripple each other," Glenn whispered in earnest.

"Are you kidding me? You think I don't have the same thoughts every time I face some sort of near death obstacle. My sisters are depending on me. I'm barely 20 years old now. You have to use that fear and change it to determination. Determination to come home to them," I whispered back. Glenn got a contemplative look on his face. "You get it?"

"No, I'm just thinking about the fact that you're like three years younger than me even though you look older," Glenn confessed. I scoffed.

"Out of the entire speech, that's what you take away? That you're older than me?" I questioned. Glenn smirked at me.

"Hell yeah it is. It means I'm the older brother now," Glenn smirked at me. I snorted.

"It's the hat that makes you look like an 18 year old. When you don't wear it you actually look your age," I told him, leaning back against my pack. Glenn took off his hat, looking at it in contemplation. "And you can take the older brother role. Too much damn pressure to have that title." Rick motioned me out onto the porch. I stood up, following him quietly.

"Daryl and I are going to leave soon. I want someone to know our route," Rick explained as we walked over to Daryl and some maps. "We'll take Randall out to Senoia. It's an hour there, hour back give or take. We may lose the light, but we'll be halfway home by then."

"This little pain in the ass will be a distant memory. Good riddance," Daryl commented. I grunted in agreement.

"Carol's putting together some provisions for him, enough to last a few days," Rick told us. Our heads turned to Shane as he drove up in one of the cars. "That thing you did last night…" Rick turned to look at me, shuffling awkwardly.

"You don't have to be the one to do everything around here," I muttered, uncomfortable with the attention.

"Yeah, ain't no reason you should do all the heavy lifting. Marcus and I can help," Daryl spoke up. Rick nodded at us.

"So are you good with all this?" Rick asked Daryl and I as he looked to Shane, no doubt doubting himself due to the lack of support he'd had from his best friend lately.

"I don't see you and I trading haymakers on the side of the road. Nobody'd win that fight," Daryl told him, fiddling awkwardly with the map. Shane started walking toward us. "Imma take a piss." I chuckled as Daryl walked off.

"You're making the right decision," I spoke quietly as I walked off back toward the house.

"Hey, man. Come help me with the RV," Glenn said as he came through the front door, Princess following him around like she usually does me. A shot of jealousy shot through me that she wouldn't just be doing that to me now. She'd be doing it to Glenn and Daryl as well. The feeling quickly went away and was replaced with thankfulness that she had more people to take care of her now. I nodded, waiting for him to pass before bending down in front of Princess. Without question Princess hopped on my back. I stood then, following out after Glenn. The rat dog gave a yelp, letting me know that it was following us as well.

"You've been quiet," I commented as we walked to the RV. Princess didn't answer. "It's not just Dale's death. What's eating you?" There was a long pause. I almost didn't think she would answer.

"I saw the walker that killed Dale in the woods yesterday. I was following Carl out there when we ran into it. Carl was teasing it and it got sort of free from the mud where it was trapped and almost got Carl. Carl got freaked and ran…I did, too. I should've killed it but I didn't think it would get free from the mud. Now I have to deal with my role in Dale's death as well as Sophia's," Princess admitted to me quietly. She stated it so matter of factly, like there was no question as to her guilt.

"Princess, you didn't do this. It's not your fault," I told her.

"No, but it's a reminder that all my actions have consequences. If I chose to not be…if I chose to not follow the rules of the new world, it could cause someone I care for to die," She told me.

"What are the rules of the new world?" I asked her.

"Always staying vigilant. Prepare for the worst. Kill every walker that you can. Be careful around new people, but don't isolate yourself from people or you might as well be a walker," Princess listed. I raised an eyebrow at her even though she couldn't see it.

"Did you switch brains with Rachel or something?" I teased. I could practically hear Princess rolling her eyes behind me.

"She's not the only one with a brain in this family, you know," She commented dryly. I chuckled as a choking sound came from the engine of the RV.

"Andrea. Hey, did you try pumping the gas pedal?" Glenn called to the woman as she sat in the drivers seat.

"I think it's been parked too long," Andrea's muffled voice came to our ears.

"You gotta tap it three times –" Glenn started to say, but Andrea cut him off.

"And give her a twist. I know, I know," Andrea answered, trying again to start the RV.

"Let me see," Glenn opened the front to look at the engine. The door to the RV opened as Andrea came out with the tool bag. "Uh, Dale told me that in these old vehicles the points get corroded."

"Screwdriver?" Andrea offered.

"Flathead," Glenn answered. I watched as Glenn began fixing the engine, just like Dale taught him to. "Could you hand me a file?" Glenn paused in his working. "I let him down."

"He was proud of you. Maybe not in that moment, but overall," Andrea comforted him.

"Oh that's easy for you to say. You had his back," Glenn dismissed what she said.

"I have my share of regrets, but I think that he knew how much we cared for him," Andrea answered. Glenn's shoulders shook a little, soft sobs coming from his body. I put my hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. A few seconds later he stood up straight and wiped his face as he closed the engine door.

"That might do it," Glenn said. We watched as he walked to the door of the RV. We followed behind him, getting in the RV to see if it would start. The rat dog barked angrily at me when I tried to shut it out of the RV. Princess jumped off my back, gave my shoulder a punch before opening the door and letting her dog in. Glenn cranked the RV easily. The rat dog ran up to me, biting into my ankle. I yelped in surprise and shook the thing off me.

"I'll be so glad when that thing get's eaten," I grumbled as Princess scooped up her dog. Princess shot me a glare before kicking me in the same ankle. Glenn laughed at us as he began driving the car.

* * *

**Princess' POV:**

"Marcus was right, I do look older without the hat," Glenn mused to himself as he inspected his reflection in the mirror. I chuckled as I watched from his side. Glenn sent me a smirk before tossing the hat on my head. "Keep it." I smiled at him as I ran out the front door to find Carl. Blade trotted at my feet beside me. "Stay close." Glenn called after me. I threw a thumbs up over my head. I paused in my run as I saw Shane go to the shed where they were keeping Randall. Curiosity got the better of me. I ran to the shed, peaking through the cracks to watch. Shane was looking at Randall with a crazed look on his face, before he uncuffed him and took him out of the shed. What the hell was he doing? I crept quietly behind them, following as he recuffed Randall and led him into the forest.

"Shh! Go that way," Shane told him. "Go on." Randall stumbled and fell since he was still blindfolded. Shane shushed him as he removed the blindfold. "I get it. I'm the last face you probably want to see, huh? Listen, I'm gonna take you up out of here, okay? I'm gonna get this off of you so you can breathe, but I want you to keep quiet. You listen good. Do you hear me?" I heard Shane say from behind a tree a few yards away. "Don't do nothing stupid." I watched as Shane took off the duct tape from Randall's mouth. "Now your group…you know where they're at?"

"No, I don't. I really –" Randall started to say but Shane cut him off.

"Okay. Get your little ass up here. Now I'm the only shot of you getting out of these woods alive. You hear me? Now you start talking, boy. Where are they at?" Shane growled.

"We had a camp set off the highway. About five miles from here. Who knows if they're still there?" Randall told him all too willingly.

"Okay. So you're gonna take me to 'em?" Shane asked him. What?

"Why?" Randall asked suspiciously.

"Because, man, I…I'm just…I'm done with this group, man. They're doomed and I want no part of it. That's all," Shane responded. That sounded like bullshit. Shane wouldn't leave Carl or Lori.

"So you're not gonna kill me?" Randall asked.

"Come on, man. If I was, you'd be dead," Shane answered, yanking the guy up and shoving him forward to walk again.

"Hey, you ain't gotta be so rough. We're on the same side now. You're gonna like it with us," Randall talked in the most calm voice that he had used since we found him. I followed quietly from a distance to see if Shane was really leaving us. "Gets a little crazy sometimes, but it's a tough bunch of guys. You'll fit in good."

"Less talking, more walking," Shane told him. I paused behind a tree as Shane looked around behind him.

"Look, I run my mouth when I get nervous. I can't help it. I got a lot going on, you know?" Randall told him. Sure he does. I ran forward a few more trees, pausing again as Shane turned around.

"It ain't all about you," Shane told him.

"I ain't saying it's about me. Just trying to –aahh," Randall I let out a small screech of fear as I watched Shane shove Randall to the ground and quickly snap Randall's neck. Shane's head swung around toward me, making eye contact. I turned, running back toward the house. I had to find Marcus. Find Marcus. That's what kept chanting in my head. I yelped as hands wrapped around me, shaking me hard as they whipped me around. Blade barked, biting onto Shane's ankle. Shane growled, shaking him off before stomping on his head so hard Blade's skull caved in, causing his brain to squish out from his ears.

"No!" I yelled. Shane whipped around toward me, shaking me again to keep me silent.

"Shut up! Why do you always have to be somewhere you're not supposed to be? Huh? It's your own fault that you keep putting yourself in these situations," Shane yelled in my face, his nose leaking blood down his face. I stood frozen in fear as Shane glared at me with a maniac glint in his eyes. "You're good at climbing trees. You're gonna climb this tree, and when we come to find you later, you're gonna tell them that Randall was chasing you with a gun so you climbed up the tree to hide. Do you understand?" I whimpered as Shane shook me so hard it hurt. When I didn't respond, Shane gave me a slap across the face. My ears rang and I could feel my split lip. I nodded in response. "Good. Now climb this damn tree." Shane shoved me at the tree. I stumbled before quickly scrambling up the tree out of his reach. The sun was setting, almost completely down as I watched Shane storm away from me. The night grew dark. I fiddled with my cap as I tried to stop my shaking. Whether the shaking was from fear or the cold, I wasn't sure. It had been 10 to 20 minutes since Shane left. I heard footsteps walking in the dark. I lowered my body close to the branch, trying to stay hidden. As they passed under my tree, I recognized the forms. It was Glenn and Daryl. I jumped down from the branch. I was blinded as a flashlight shone in my face.

"Princess?" Glenn asked, moving the light from my face as they stepped forward. "What are you doing out here?" I didn't answer. I didn't want to lie, but Shane's crazed look haunted me. Daryl snatched the flashlight from Glenn's hands.

"Did someone hit you?" Daryl asked, sounding angry as he shined the light on my cheek and mouth. "Randall do this?" I didn't answer, lowering my head to the ground. Come on.

"We'll figure this out when we get back to the house," Glenn wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his side between him and Daryl as we ran back to the farm.


	19. Chapter 19

**I tried to publish this chapter a few weeks ago but the site was being stupid and I got angry and I just realized I never posted it. I have a pretty heavy course load this semester, so I will probably only be able to publish a chapter about once a month. **

**Kansas: I'm so glad you like how everything is turning out. I plan on making Glenn and Princess much closer.**

**Guest: I'm sorry that Blade's death upset you, it did me too but unfortunately that's how he died :(**

**Thanks for all the review's, favorites, and follows! You guys are the best!**

* * *

**Rachel's POV:**

Marcus and I paced the floor, waiting for the others to get back, hopefully with some news of Princess. My heart hadn't stopped racing since Shane said that Randall had taken Princess. Marcus and I had been the first ones to return.

"That's it, I'm going to look for them," Andrea said while standing.

"Me, too," Marcus grabbed his gun, walking toward the front door as I chewed on my nails.

"Don't. If Randall comes back we'll need you here," Lori spoke up. Marcus looked to me. I shook my head no. Marcus opened his mouth but quickly shut it as the sound of someone walking into the house came to our ears. Daryl and Glenn walked in, Princess smushed between them. Princess ran to Marcus and I. I quickly pulled Princess into a tight hug as Marcus hugged her other side.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked us.

"No," Lori answered.

"What the hell happened to your face, Princess?" Marcus asked, causing me to move back. Princess had a rather large hand shaped bruise on her cheek. Princess just looked to the floor.

"We found her like that. She hasn't said a word since she jumped out of a tree and practically scared me to death," Glenn spoke up as he came to stand at our side, Maggie with him.

"Was it Randall?" Marcus asked, a murderous anger in his voice. Princess hesitated but shook her head no. She offered no other explanation and shuffled her feet. She's avoiding the question…she's scared.

"We heard a shot," Daryl brought up.

"Maybe they found Randall," Lori offered.

"We found him," Daryl told us. I tucked Princess into my side while Marcus stood on her other.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked.

"He's a walker," Daryl told us. I shared a confused look with Marcus.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked.

"No, the weird thing is he wasn't bit," Glenn told us.

"His neck was broke," Daryl informed us.

"So he fought back," Patricia offered up.

"He must've gotten scratched," I spoke up.

"No, no scratch marks," Glenn told me. I scrunched my brow up, even more confused.

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker," Daryl told us.

"So he didn't come up behind him. They were together," Marcus finished for Daryl. Daryl turned to him, nodding in agreement. A sudden thought came to me, a horrid, terrible thought.

"Princess, did…did Shane hit you?" I asked quietly. Princess froze in my side, not making eye contact or responding, but that was response enough for me. Marcus swore angrily at my side.

"Would you please get back out there and find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori begged Daryl.

"Princess, why don't you go upstairs with Carl," I told her. Princess didn't answer, but quickly ran up the stairs. Daryl gave a head nod toward Glenn, Marcus, and I to follow him outside. We walked with him, following him over to the side of the porch. I squinted, looking out at the tree line as a herd of walkers stumbled toward the house, possibly the biggest herd I had ever seen.

"There's gotta be a least a hundred of them," Marcus mumbled as we stared in horror at the herd.

"Glenn, go get the others," I hissed out. A few seconds later, everyone was on the porch with us, staring at the walkers.

"Patricia, kill the lights," Hershel whispered. It's too late for that now.

"I'll get the guns," Andrea rushed back inside with a few others.

"Maybe they'll just pass, like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Glenn asked, looking to Daryl.

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about," Daryl sassed. "A herd that size will rip the house down." The door burst open as Princess came running out to look. Marcus grabbed her arm, stopping her from going too far. She looked at the large herd in horror.

"Where did you say Carl was?" Princess whispered, still watching the herd.

"He's upstairs," Maggie answered, sharing a confused look with me. Princess slowly shook her head, finally turning to look at me.

"No he's not. I checked everywhere, even downstairs. Carl's not in the house," Princess told us. Growing alarm filled my stomach. Lori looked close to hysteric's from the news.

"Maybe he's hiding," Glenn offered.

"He's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my boy," Lori panicked.

"We're not," Carol agreed. "We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him." Lori held her stomach as the others rushed inside, Princess on there heals to help them look.

"So many," Glenn mumbled as Andrea set the guns out in front of us. Maggie and Andrea began passing out the guns to everyone.

"They got the numbers. It's no use," Daryl added unhelpfully.

"You can go if you want," Hershel added.

"You gonna take 'em all on?" Daryl asked.

"We have guns. We have cars," Hershel told us as he loaded a gun.

"Kill as many as we can, then we use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm," Andrea offered.

"I like it," I agreed as I loaded my own gun. Andrea sent me a smirk. Maybe the bitch wasn't too bad after all.

"Are you serious?" Daryl asked, looking from Andrea to me to Marcus.

"This is my farm. I'll die here," Hershel declared.

"Well that was dramatic," Marcus mumbled.

"All right. It's as good a night as any," Daryl declared. Marcus followed Daryl over the railing.

"Get Princess ready to run if we have to," Marcus told me over his shoulder as he jogged behind Daryl. I ran back inside, calling for Princess as loud as I dared. She popped up at the top of the staircase.

"Princess, get your satchel and get ready to have to run. Do you have a gun?" She nodded at me. "Good, stay close to someone with a car," I ordered. I ran back outside, ammo stuffed deep in my pocket.

"Rachel!" T-dog yelled at me. I ran toward him and the blue truck, hopping up in the truck bed as we drove toward the walkers. The bag of ammo lay at my feet. I shot from the truck bed as Andrea shot from the front while T-dog drove. I could see Glenn and Marcus shooting from the car as Maggie drove around. The barn was on fire for some reason. I let everything fall from my mind as I concentrated on aiming and taking down as many walkers as possible.

* * *

**Princess's POV:**

I stuffed the last of a few water bottles into my bag beside the ball cap that Glenn had given me, ignoring Lori as she panicked about Carl. I jogged back into the living room, wishing I had a jacket for the cool air.

"Beth, Patricia, Princess, come on, we gotta go," Carol said, taking my hand as she dragged us outside. "Lori?"

"Hershel, come on!" Lori yelled to the old man. Hershel ignored us as he continued to shoot and defend his house. Carol pulled me along, leaving the old man behind as we led the way to running to the forest. I could hear Patricia scream behind me.

"Don't turn back," Carol order. I whimpered as I held her hand tighter, following her orders.

"What about Marcus and Rachel?" I yelled as we ran.

"We'll meet up with them later," Carol yelled back to me, looking over my shoulder at the others. What she didn't see was that she was leading us straight to a shed, cornering us in.

"Carol!" I yelled. She finally turned, seeing the predicament we were now in. Carol screamed as she frantically searched the ground for a weapon. I pulled out my gun; exhaling each time I shot the gun. I managed to kill five of the seven walkers coming toward us, but I missed the head with my last bullet and hit the walker's shoulder. I quickly stowed my gun in my satchel and pulled out my knife, waiting for it to get close enough for me to strike. Suddenly two walkers fell, revealing Andrea behind it. A walker started to get to close to Andrea.

"Look out!" Carol and I both yelled. But the walker fell on top of her. Carol grabbed my hand, pulling me away again. I watched as the blue truck drove away, happy to see my sisters blonde hair blowing in the wind from the back. Carol and I ran as more and more walkers followed us. Carol let out a scream as one walker grabbed onto the back of her shirt, but I swung around, stabbing it in the head. Suddenly I was the one pulling Carol along, keeping her safe. Carol stumbled, panting, as she grew tired from running. Uncle Daryl suddenly appeared in front of us on his motorcycle.

"Come on, I ain't got all day," He snapped. I hurriedly jumped on the back of the bike, Carol squeezing in behind me. Daryl roared his engine as he sped off. I looked back to the farm, searching for a sign of Marcus, but he was nowhere to be found. Everyone was gone. The farm was lost.

* * *

**Marcus' POV:**

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God," Maggie chanted on a never-ending streak. I wanted to tell her to shut up, but I couldn't seem to get my mouth working. I had left them behind. Both of them.

"All right, let's just…let's just circle back to the highway," Glenn said softly, finally breaking Maggie's mantra.

"Did you see my dad? Did…did he make it?" Maggie asked in a broken voice. Something inside of me snapped.

"No one saw anyone. Half of them are probably dead!" I yelled in frustration. Maggie let out a sob.

"Calm down," Glenn told me loudly.

"And Beth…I lost Beth. We've gotta go back there," Maggie spoke up. Half of me cheered in agreement while the other vehemently didn't want to get near that farm again.

"We can't go back, okay? There's nothing to go back to," Glenn told her.

"What about Rachel and Princess?" Marcus asked. Glenn sighed as he answered.

"Princess and Beth were with Lori…I think. And Rachel was with T-dog." Glenn answered us.

"Did they make it?" Maggie asked, tears falling down her face. I leaned forward from my seat in the back to get a better look at Glenn. He looked back and forth between the both of us.

"I don't know," He answered. I held my head in my hands, pulling at my strands of hair. How was I supposed to find them if they did make it out alive? **_If_** they made it out alive.

"Patricia? Jimmy? What if they didn't make it? What if nobody made it?" Maggie asked.

"They made it, okay. They had to," Glenn answered.

"They had to? That's the best you got?" I snapped, keeping my head down. I could feel Glenn glaring at me, but he didn't acknowledge my comment.

"All right, let's just circle around to the highway where we left supplies for Sophia," Glenn told us. I nodded in agreement.

"No, the herd came from that direction," Maggie sobbed.

"Just stop. Stop the car. Stop the car," Glenn said, being the only person to remain calm. Glenn got out of the car as Maggie brought it to a stop. "Let me drive." Maggie climbed to the other seat as Maggie started sobbing. "Hey, we're alive, we made it, I'm sure they are, too. Right? I love you. Maggie, I love you. I should've said it a long time ago and it's been true for a long time. We're gonna be all right, okay? We'll be all right." I lifted my head from my hands, staring between the Glenn and Maggie.

"That was fucking beautiful," I said in a monotone, causing both Glenn and Maggie to jump, like they had forgotten I was here. "Now can we get back to trying to find my sisters?" I snapped. Glenn let out a breath as he turned the car around.

"I didn't realize your sisters where the thing keeping you from being such a douche bag," Glenn muttered.

"I'm only a douche when someone's keeping me from them." My leg jumped up and down as we sped back to the highway. I chewed on my nail, a habit I had always berated Rachel about. As we drove back on the interstate, a motorcycle drove around in front of us. I could easily see Daryl and Carol on it. Suddenly, a small head of blonde hair poked out from in between them. My hand slapped onto Glenn's shoulder.

"Did you see…?" I tried to ask, but couldn't seem to get the words out. Please tell me I didn't just hallucinate that.

"I saw her, too," Glenn answered, patting my hand on his shoulder. A roar from behind us made me whip around in my seat. The baby blue truck from the farm followed us.

"Who's in it?" Maggie asked, her voice shaky.

"T-dog is definitely driving. I…I see Rachel in the back. Beth and Lori are there, too," I breathed out in relief. Maggie let out a laugh that sounded more like a sob. As we pulled up to where we had lost Sophia I could see Rick, Hershel, and Carl waiting behind a car. "Just saw Hershel over there," I pointed, resting my hand on Maggie's shoulder. Maggie squeezed my hand and as fresh tears flowed from her face. Before the car could even stop I was jumping out of the side of it. I caught Rachel as she jumped into my arms from the truck bed. Rachel cried into my shoulder.

"I thought you were gone and Princess was dead," Rachel sobbed. I chuckled, trying to shake off my own tears as Princess hopped off the motorcycle and ran to us. I scooped her up into our hug as well. Princess cried too, but less loudly than Rachel. As we finally broke apart. Rachel went and gave Glenn a hug as I clapped Daryl on the shoulder.

"Thank you," I told him.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl.

"Well, this guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road, figured he had to be Asian, driving like that," Daryl joked. I chuckled as Glenn smirked.

"Good one," Glenn shook his head good-naturedly at the comment.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked.

"We're the only ones who made it so far," Rick told us.

"Shane?" Lori asked. I felt Princess tense up in my arms from where she still clung to my waist. Rick shook his head no. I felt no remorse for the pleased feeling that grew in my gut from the news.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked.

"She saved me and Princess, then I lost her," Carol spoke up.

"We saw her go down," T-dog told us. The sadistic happy feeling was soon replaced with sadness.

"Patricia?" Hershel asked.

"They got her, too. Took her right from me. I was…I was holdin' onto her, Daddy. She just…What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?" Beth asked.

"He was in the RV. It got overrun," Rick answered.

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Princess asked.

"There were walkers everywhere," Lori answered. That wasn't a definite answer.

"Did you see her?" Carol asked T-dog. No one answered.

"I'm gonna go back," Daryl said, taking a few steps toward his motorcycle before Rick stopped him. "We can't just leave her."

"We don't even know if she's there," Rachel pointed out.

"She isn't there. She isn't. She's somewhere else or she's dead," Rick said in a hard voice. "There's no way to find her."

"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asked in disbelief.

"We got to keep moving. There've been walkers crawling all over here," Rick told us. I pulled Princess tighter into my side.

"I say head east," T-dog offered.

"Stay off the main roads," Daryl pointed out as he picked up in crossbow, looking at something behind us. I turned to see a loan walker stumbling this way. "The bigger the road, the more assholes like this one. I got him."

"We should consolidate vehicles. Makes it harder for us to get separated and we'll use less gas," I told them. Everyone agreed. Rachel, Rick, Lori, Carl, and T-dog climbed into the Red truck that Rick had come in, while Glenn, Maggie, Beth, Hershel, Princess, and I climbed back into the green car. Princess sat in my lap, easily starting to fall asleep on the ride now that she wasn't on the motorcycle with Daryl and Carol. We stayed silent in the car, not speaking as we went on our way.

"We'll need to get your sisters and you better winter clothes," Maggie spoke up. "Glenn and Lori, too." I grunted in acknowledgement before a honk caused us all to turn around as we stopped. We quickly jumped out of the car.

"You out?" Daryl asked as we all grouped together.

"Running on fumes," Rick confirmed.

"We can't stay here," Maggie insisted.

"We can't all fit in one car," Glenn brought up.

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning," Rick told us.

"Spend the night here?" Carol asked.

"I'm freezing," Carl spoke up. As if to emphasize this point, Princess started shivering, too. I brought her in closer to my body heat.

"We'll build a fire, yeah?" Lori confirmed.

"You go out looking for firewood, stay close. Only got so many arrows. How you doing on ammo?" Daryl asked.

"Not enough," Rick answered.

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out," Maggie commented.

"Watch your mouth," Hershel reprimanded her. I hid my laugh with a cough when Maggie sent me a glare. "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."

"All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on," Rick gave us our orders.

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas," Maggie offered.

"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car," Rick quickly dismissed.

"Rick, we're stranded now," Glenn stated the obvious.

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure I really wasn't but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place," Rick insisted. I glanced around, eyeing the area during the pregnant pause.

"Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something," Glenn tired again.

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it," Rick spat. Something was really working him over.

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe," Maggie pointed out. Princess shivered at our side.

"We won't make that mistake again," Hershel insisted.

"We'll make camp tonight over there, get on the road at the break of day," Rick told us as he pointed to what looked like used to be a brick house.

"Does this feel right to you?" I heard Carol whisper to Daryl.

"What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked.

"You know I found Randall, right? He had turned, but he wasn't bit," Daryl told Rick.

"How's that possible?" Beth asked.

"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asked.

"Shane killed Randall," Princess spoke up from my side. Everyone turned to look at her. "I followed him as he took Randall out of the shed. He found me, threatened me if I told anyone…he killed my dog, too,"

"And then the herd got him?" Lori asked. There was a long pregnant pause where Rick seemed to be contemplating how to answer.

"We're all infected," Rick finally answered.

"What?" Daryl asked. I stared at Rick along with everyone else. Princess had stopped shivering from the shock.

"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it," Rick told us.

"And you never said anything?" Carol asked, stunned like the rest of us.

"Would it have made a difference?" Rick asked, sounding somewhat defeated.

"You knew this whole time?" Glenn asked, betrayal in his voice that I was starting to feel, too.

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazy that mo-" Rick tried to defend himself.

"That is not your call," I spoke up.

"Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone," Glenn put in.

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know," Rick answered. There was a long pause as Rick looked at each one of us. Rick stalked off from us, heading toward the campsite he had chosen for the night. Lori walked over with him. Everyone stood still, stuck in thought. Princess' shivering came back, shaking me from my own trance.

"We should get any blankets we have from the cars and start up a fire before it starts getting colder," I spoke up. Daryl nodded.

"I'll go find some fire wood," Daryl spoke up. I moved with Princess to the campsite, most everyone following behind us. I began to clear an area in the dirt, surrounding it with a few loose bricks. Daryl was back in no time, easily starting up the fire for us. Beth passed me a large blanket.

"It's the only one that we had. You three have the least winter clothing on. You should use it," Beth told me. I nodded at her as Princess, Rachel, and I huddled beneath it for warmth. The moon had set as T-dog and Rick stood on watch.

"We're not safe with him. Keeping something like that from us. Why do you need him? He's just gonna pull you down," Carol whispered in Daryl's ear.

"No. Rick's done all right by me," Daryl defended Rick.

"You're his henchman and I'm a burden. You deserve better," Carol spat.

"What do you want?" Daryl asked Carol.

"A man of honor," Carol answered. I snorted, hiding my head in the back of Princess's head as she sat in my lap.

"Rick has honor," Daryl defended Rick again.

"I think we should take our chances," Maggie told Glenn.

"Don't be foolish. There's no food, no fuel, no ammo," Hershel listed.

"What do you think, Marcus?" Rachel asked. I rested my head on top of Princess'.

"I'm over it. It's not anything I probably would have done any different, if only to see my family a little more worry free for a little while," I answered. Some leaves rustled in the distance, causing all of us to snap to attention.

"What was that?" Beth asked.

"Could be anything. Could be a raccoon, could be a possum," Daryl listed as they began to stand. Princess' iron grip on my arms kept me rooted in my spot.

"A walker," Glenn added.

"We need to leave. I mean what are we waiting for?" Carol asked us.

"Which way?" Glenn asked.

"It came from over there," Maggie pointed from the way that we had just come.

"Back from where we came?" Beth asked.

"Yeah," Rachel mumbled.

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark. We don't have the vehicles. No one's traveling on foot," Rick declared.

"Don't panic," Hershel tried to calm the others.

"I'm not I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to move, now," Maggie's voice wavered in fear.

"No one is going anywhere," Rick replied rather menacingly. I felt Rachel shrink more into my side as she looked at the glare that Rick was giving Maggie.

"Do something," Carol demanded. There isn't anything to do…

"I am doing something! I'm keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake! You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, slapped Princess, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my friend, but he came after me. My hands are clean. Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe…maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe…maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you…why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard," Rick paused for dramatic effect. "Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get." No one moved. "No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight if you're staying. This isn't a democracy anymore." Rachel hugged my side tightly as Princess gripped my arms. Everyone stayed in awkward silence as Rick walked away.

"This is depressing, someone change the subject," I grumbled out. Everyone slowly sat back at their spots by the fire.

"What's Princess' real name?" Beth asked. Rachel and I looked at each other, sort of startled.

"I had forgotten we hadn't told you guys yet," Rachel admitted. "She hates the name so after all this started, we started calling her that whenever we were around other people. That way Princess would get less attached to them if they died because they were calling her a name she despised…kinda went out the window with you guys though."

"My name's Amanda."


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey guys! Sorry for the hiatus. I was finishing up my bachelors which took up all of my free time and energy. Good news is I have more free time than I know what to do with. I'm posting two new chapter to this story and my other FF today and then will be posting a chapter a week for each story. Hope you guys aren't too mad at me about the leaving. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Rachel's POV:**

Princess, Carol, and I walked around as quietly as possible as we searched the house. There had only been two walkers inside but we were still paranoid. After three and a half months of moving from place to place each night, it was only adding to our paranoia. Lori was starting to show, causing everyone to silently worry about her and the baby's health.

"Find anything?" I asked Carol as she walked toward me. She shook her head. "I found toothpaste, but if we're not going to be eating anyways, what's the point?" We walked silently to the front door where Princess was waiting for us. She had dust all over her blonde hair. Her dirty blonde hair was loosing it's tight rings and now looked more similar to mine. Even though she had it pulled back in a ponytail, it was still longer than she had ever kept it. I would need to cut it soon. Princess smiled as we approached, opening her bag to show us three cans of beans.

"It was in the back of the pantry. Someone had shoved them behind some boards," She explained, looking proud of her find. She would be twelve soon. Sadness tinged me as I thought about how different her childhood would be from mine.

"How on earth did you think to look there, Amanda?" Carol asked. It still seemed strange the group knowing Princess' real name. Carol and Lori had switched to calling Amanda by her birth name, while the rest of the group switched between the two. Out of habit, I had yet to call her anything other than Princess, though Marcus seemed to have easily switched back to calling her Mandy as he had before the outbreak.

"Nothing in the new world isn't hidden," Princess declared. I raised an eyebrow at her, surprised at her insight into this new harsh world. She saw my look as she closed her satchel. "Well, at least that's what Glenn told me." She shrugged. I chuckled as we quietly walked out of the house.

"You and Glenn are like two peas in a pod," I commented. Princess just grinned at me as we walked down the street of empty houses. I could hear our group searching their assigned houses as we walked back to our cars that were hidden about a mile down the road.

"Do you think the other's had any luck with food?" Carol asked. The pessimist in me almost immediately said no, but I couldn't be the one to take the look of hope off of Princess' face.

"Odd's are at least one of them found something," I answered. We were silent for a beat.

"What happens when we stop finding food to scavenge. I mean, there was only so much food in the world when we stopped making it. How are we supposed to find some place to stay long enough to make food?" Princess asked. Well, so much for keeping the hope alive in her. Sometimes I forgot how much she saw and how much older she was. She was almost to my shoulders.

"We'll figure it out when we get there," Carol responded.

"It's like Rick said. There has to be some place in the world that we can make safe enough to live and have families," I added, hoping to help keep the hope alive. Carol eyed me skeptically but said nothing. Princess merely hummed in response as we walked a little longer.

"I think Lori should have first dibs on the food. She's supposed to be putting on more weight for the baby and she doesn't look like she has been," Princess added. I smiled at her. Princess had taken a liking to all the medical things Hershel had been doing with the camp, so along with Carol, Hershel had been training Princess to someday be our "doctor". Princess gobbled up all his stories and every bit of knowledge he told her. We had even managed to find her an anatomy and physiology textbook from a library we passed through.

"That's probably a good-" I was cut off as I heard a noise behind me. I turned just in time for a walker to come down on me. I screamed as It bit into my shoulder. A million things ran through my head at once. These things were getting quieter. It must have been other walkers in the houses we walked by and not our group. I was going to die. Princess was going to watch me die. Princess might die trying to save me. There are half a dozen more walkers coming in fast to us. I shoved the walker away from me. Turning to Carol and Princess, both of whom were killing walkers that were closest to them. "Get her out of here!" I screamed to Carol as another walker grabbed me from behind. I let out a scream as it bit into my flesh again. Carol's eyes welled up with pity and sorrow, but her face hardened as she grabbed Princess' arm and started pulling her away. Princess screamed my name, jerking toward me and managing to grab the collar of my shirt, along with my necklace. As another walker bit into me, Carol finally managed to yank Princess away, dragging her along beside her as they made a beeline for the trucks. My own screams were barely distinguishable from Princess'. I made eye contact with her tear stained face, giving her a small smile. "Run. I love you bo-" I was cut off as I began choking on my own blood. Pain surged through me as more walkers feasted on me. I could feel their hands moving around my internal organs. My vision faded as the walker's blocked my view of my baby sister. A small sigh left me as she was safely far away. The pain faded. Everything faded. And at last I thought no more.


	21. Chapter 21

**Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows while I was gone. You guys are so great and made it easy to come back to these stories after spending so long away from them.**

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**Hope you guys don't hate me after the last chapter. As promised, here's the next one!**

* * *

**Marcus' POV:**

Numb. Since Rachel's death that was all I had felt inside. I couldn't remember what had gone on in the past month as I sat quietly on the dusty floor while the rest of the group slept. My gaze landed on Mandy. She slept on Maggie and Glenn's lap, their hands resting on her back and head as they had comforted her while she tried to sleep. No jolt of jealousy went through me at the thought of her going to Glenn for comfort rather me, only relief that I didn't have to give comfort when I didn't feel it. My eyes moved to Mandy's hand. It was clutched around the two necklaces that hung around her neck. I could just barely make out the slightly tinged red necklace that Mandy had accidently torn off of Rachel when she was being ea-.

I quickly moved my eyes from Mandy. I could barely look at her any more. When I did, I just saw the only living sister that I wouldn't be able to protect, as well as the sister that I couldn't protect. I vaguely remember Glenn and Rick talking to me, trying to get me to go to her, talk to her more. I never did. I wasn't sure I had even said a single word to Mandy since she and Carol had shown up to the trucks bloody, crying, telling us that a small herd was headed this way and they had gotten…

I moved my eyes again. I was a shit brother. I let myself wallow in self pity like I had been. Everyone had been trying to snap me out of it. I went on runs, did my job, answered when spoken to, but I never started a conversation or even added to the conversation unless I was talked to directly. I shifted awkwardly once I realized that I had been making eye contact with Daryl for the past few minutes without realizing it. Daryl's piercing gaze said more than the man had spoken to me in the past month. Flashes of memory of Mandy clinging to him instead of me appeared before my eyes. I shifted my eyes to the windows that he sat next to. He was on watch. They would probably put me on watch every night because of how little I slept now, but my eyes hardly ever focused on things. They knew if they put me on watch now, I would be the death of them.

Growing stiff, I quietly walked to the other side of the window. I glanced out from the side of the curtain. I stood there for what felt like an eternity and only a second all at once. It was getting hard for me to tell time now. Had it really only been a month since she...or was it longer? Movement drew my eyes. I watched as a hooded figure began bashing in a few walkers heads that were in the front yard. I turned my head to the side in confusion as I realized what the person was using for a weapon.

"Is...is he using a PVC pipe?" I whispered in a hushed breath to Daryl, who was also watching the figure. Daryl didn't respond as the two of us stood by, watching the person fight. Once the walkers were dead, the person slowly moved toward the door. Daryl and I silently moved to either side of the door. The door didn't make a sound as it opened. As soon as the person was through, I closed the door behind them, joining Daryl as we knocked the pipe out of their hand and pinned them to the ground. Our commotion made the other's wake. The hood of the person's jacket fell back, revealing a young male, somewhere between mine and Mandy's age. I glanced at his fallen weapon. "It is a PVC pipe."

* * *

**Amanda's POV:**

I watched as T-dog moved to take watch at the window while Daryl held a boy at...arrow point? I mentally shrugged to myself. What surprised me the most out of the boy appearing was how aware and present Marcus seemed. Marcus looked with confusion on his face at the boys weapons.

"He doesn't just have the PVC pipe, but he made a bow out of PVC, too. Looks like he got real arrows though," Glenn told Rick as they looked at his weapon.

"How many are you? Where's the rest of your group?" Rick snapped at the boy. The boy looked scared but resigned. He didn't answer, instead he let his eyes roam over our group. We all stood, startled and ready to bolt. All but Lori, who had a hand over her swollen belly as she sat on the couch. His eyes widened at Lori and stayed glued to her. Rick blocked the boy's view of Lori and growled out the same answer. Still the boy didn't answer. Instead he reached into his pocket. Everyone tensed, but he only pulled out a can of food. He rolled it to Lori's feet. Carl caught it before it could reach his mother. He picked it up and handed it to his father.

"Just some pork n' beans," He told us. Rick looked it over before passing it off to Maggie who began using her knife to open it.

"What's your name?" Glenn asked in a kinder tone, but still the boy didn't answer. My hand twiddled nervously around the two necklaces that now hung around my neck.

"Do you think he can hear us?" Beth asked. The boy turned to Beth making eye contact and nodding.

"Can you talk?" Glenn pressed. The boy paused as he looked at Glenn before shaking his head.

"So we're just supposed to ask him yes or no questions and believe whatever he tells us?" Carol asked skeptically.

"We could just leave him here when we leave in the morning," Glenn said.

"We can't leave him. What if he's all alone? He's only a kid," Lori spoke up as she slowly ate the can of beans.

"Are you alone?" Rick asked. The boy nodded.

"We can't keep him with us! We don't know what he's done," Carol interjected. Rick ran a tired hand over his face.

"But if we leave him, how do we know he won't follow us?" Maggie asked.

"So, what? We kill teenage?" T-dog asked. Everyone tensed. "Man, it's Randall all over again.

"No, it's not. Randall was with other people and attacked us. He hasn't done anything to us. We attacked him, for pete's sake," Glenn argued.

"He _says_ that he's alone. How do we know he's telling the truth. We don't even know if lying about being able to talk," Carol argued right back.

"We could try and get information out of him like we did Randall?" T-dog brought up. Everyone looked around, uncomfortable with the thought. The boy looked like he was about the same age as Rachel. I fiddled with her necklace as I thought about how she had reacted to the whole Randall situation.

"I thought he said he couldn't talk. How would beating him get information out of him when he can't even talk?" Carl asked.

"He can talk," Daryl suddenly spoke. The boy locked eyes with Daryl. "He's just not talkin'." The boy's eyes slowly flickered over to Rick's, making it seem like he had already identified him as the leader. Rick slowly began to nod his head.

"There's a shed out back that would possibly work," Rick spoke to Daryl. Rachel's face came to my mind as I looked at the boy.

"No," I interrupted Rick and Daryl as they talked. My voice cracked from lack of use and with a start I realized I hadn't talked to anyone since screaming Rachel's name as Carol dragged me away. Everyone turned to look at me, even Marcus. I cleared my throat. "No. You're not beating him and you're not killing him." An awkward silence hung over the room.

"Amanda, he's not talking. We don't have another option." Rick spoke to me softly, like I was a four year old throwing a temper tantrum.

"No. He hasn't tried to run. What could he possibly steal from us? We have no food. We barely have clothes to keep us warm from the winter. He even gave up a can of food when he saw Lori was pregnant. We hadn't checked his pockets. We wouldn't have known that the food was in there. He could have made his run for it with his food still in tact. He's not gonna harm us. If he was with someone they would have barged in here by now and if he hasn't spoken up for himself so that he doesn't die or get beaten then he's either incredibly stupid or he actually can't talk," I snapped. I took a deep breath to calm my temper. Marcus looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Anger flared at me again as I looked at my brother who had ignored me since my sister's death. No one spoke for a long moment.

"She's right," Hershel spoke up. Hershel had been my saving grace. Distracting me and treating me just the same. Teaching me all he could about medicine and how to treat different wounds, he never once faltered in his expectations of me.

"So...we let him stay?" Glenn asked in confusion.

"If he wants to," Lori spoke up. The boy nodded his head.

"Probationary," Rick snapped, eyeing the boy suspiciously.

"What do we call him?" Beth asked. Marcus rolled a bloody PVC pipe beneath his boot.

"Who uses PVC as weapons?" Marcus mauled over, like that was the only thing in the world that bothered him about the mute newcomer. Daryl grunted in agreement as he slowly lowered his bow.

"PVC here's surprisingly good with it." Daryl twirled the bow he had made around his hands, inspecting it.

"PVC it is."


End file.
